True Raiders: The Untold Story of the 1909 Expedition to Find the Legendary Ark of the Covenant

by Brad Ricca

Hardcover, 2021

Status

Available

Call number

933.442

Genres

Collection

Don

Publication

St. Martin's Press (2021), 368 pages

Description

"True Raiders is The Lost City of Z meets The Da Vinci Code, from critically acclaimed author Brad Ricca. This book tells the untold true story of Monty Parker, a British rogue nobleman who, after being dared to do so by Ava Astor, the so-called "most beautiful woman in the world," headed a secret 1909 expedition to find the fabled Ark of the Covenant. This amazing tale not only inspired the blockbuster film Raiders of the Lost Ark but stands on its own as an incredible story of adventure and mystery, though it has been almost completely forgotten today. In 1908, Monty is approached by a strange Finnish scholar named Valter Juvelius who claims to have discovered a secret code in the Bible that reveals the location of the Ark. Monty assembles a ragtag group of blueblood adventurers, a renowned psychic, and a Franciscan father, to engage in a secret excavation just outside the city walls of Jerusalem. Using recently uncovered records from the original expedition and several newly translated sources, True Raider is the first retelling of this group's adventures- in the space between fact and faith, science and romance"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member jetangen4571

relics, archaeology, old-testament, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-setting, history-and-culture****

I guess that I just like my historical archaeology more of the Publish or Perish sort. There is a multiplicity of interesting major and minor characters,

an abundance of dialogue, and a lot of interesting new things to learn. I geek history and archaeology, so it was a good read for me.
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

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LibraryThing member Ronrose1

True Raiders is more Professor Jones than Indiana Jones. This doesn’t mean the story isn’t an interesting one. Any book that takes pains to detail a true search for the Ark of the Covenant is high on my to read list. The book follows the 1909 expedition to Jerusalem by a small group of

adventurers. In order to avoid being shut down by the local authorities, the searchers, none of whom are archaeologists, keep their real reason for digging up the past a secret. If the true nature of the dig were to get out, both the Turks who were currently in control of the area and the Jewish community would come down hard on this treasure hunt. There are plenty of features in this fascinating tale that would play in any Hollywood feature; ex-British army adventurers looking to get rich, scientists with secret ciphers, beautiful women, spies conspiring to find the true nature of the expedition, unscrupulous competitors, endless digging in tunnels that may lead to treasure or end in disaster at every turn. Not to mention the endless hours of heat and tedium that fill the days.The book details the reasons behind the expedition, the lives of the men who participated, the results of their labors, and their need for a rapid exit from the area. The devil may be in the details, but it does make a devil of a story.

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LibraryThing member JBD1

Great idea for a really fascinating book, but not carried off well at all. The imagined dialogue and narrative "gap-filling" are not convincing, and the book just doesn't hold together well. A great shame, because there's surely an interesting story in here somewhere.

LibraryThing member muddyboy

This is the "true" story behind the expedition that led to the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark". It is a good thing they jazzed it up or no one would have wanted to see it. Way too many characters and many with little bearing on the actual expedition. There is even a chapter on Jack the Ripper. There

is lots of planning, prepping and exploring with and little of any consequence actually found. Though well researched it is presented like a novel so it is hard to tell the factual from what comes from Ricci's imagination.

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LibraryThing member farrhon

Really? Do I care what kind of tea they were having whilst discussing the upcoming excursion??? Answer:No.

LibraryThing member mboszko

Fascinating history, told in an almost distressingly narrative manner that makes it seem more fictional than real. However, there is a lot of source material to back it up, and much of the source material is vague and colored by personal recollection, and the desire to present things as more

palatable than they might have been, so I see the desire to amalgamate these into a series of more personal recollections that may or may not reflect the actual truth. A fascinating story, nevertheless.

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