In 1570 B.C., Rome was a marsh, the Acropolis an empty rock, but Egypt was 1,000 years old. The pyramid-builders were gone, yet Egypt still awaited its New Kingdom, an empire forged by conquest and remembered for eons. EGYPT'S GOLDEN EMPIRE comes to life through letters and records evoking the passion and riches of a time when Egypt was the center of the known world, its Pharaohs called gods, and great cities, temples and tombs built.

• Keith David