Andrew Robinson is the author of twenty-five books in the arts and sciences, including India: A Short History, The Man Who Deciphered Linear B and The Story of Writing, all published by Thames & Hudson.

Prologue: Egyptomania
1. Hieroglyphic 'Delirium' before Champollion
2. A Revolutionary Childhood
3. Reluctant Schoolboy
4. Egypt Encountered
5. Paris and the Rosetta Stone
6. Teenage Professor
7. The Race Begins
8. Napoleon and Champollion
9. Exile and Revolt
10. Breakthrough
11. An Egyptian Renaissance
12. Curator at the Louvre
13. To Egypt, At Last
14. In Search of Ramesses
15. First Professor of Egyptology
16. The Hieroglyphs after Champollion

An updated edition of this acclaimed book, now with a new preface and published to tie in with the bicentenary of Champollion's breakthrough in 1822. Cracking the Egyptian Code is the first biography in English of Jean-Francois Champollion, the impoverished, arrogant and brilliant child of the French Revolution who made the vital breakthrough in deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphs. This account charts Champollion's dramatic life and achievements: by turns a teenage professor, a supporter of Napoleon, an exile, a fanatical decipherer and a curator at the Louvre, he lived life to the full but drove himself into an early grave. Andrew Robinson's full-blooded account brings the man, his setbacks and his ultimate triumphs vividly to life.