She is working on a book about the tug-of-war over antiquities pitting Western countries and their great museums against the developing countries seeking restitution of ancient artifacts. Who ought to own the trophies of history, Western museums or the source countries? The book, tentatively titled, Stealing From the Pharaohs, will be published by Times Books, a division of Henry Holt.
I recently asked her what she was reading. Her reply:
Read more about Waxman's book project.I've been on a month-long research trip for a new book I'm writing about looted antiquities, and have been reading largely on that topic.
I've been vastly enjoying Traveling Through Egypt, a compendium of writings from travelers to ancient Egypt starting from the Greeks (Pliny the Elder) but with lots of entertaining material from Victorian travellers (ie advice for the ladies: leave the maid at home). It's edited by Deborah Manley and Sahar Abdel-Hakim.
And since I've been making my way through Greece, I've been reading Lawrence Durrell's travelogue of the islands, The Greek Islands. I have been advised to get ahold of Homer and reread the Iliad and Odyssey, which I intend to do next.
Waxman has been a New York Times correspondent for Hollywood based in Los Angeles, a post she has held since the end of 2003. She is the author of Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors And How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System (2005), about the emergence of a new generation of writers and directors in the 1990s, making landmark films in a corporate-run Hollywood.
--Marshal Zeringue
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