Cleopatra's Needles

Guest: Bob Brier, Senior Research Fellow at Long Island University and author of "Cleopatra’s Needles: The Lost Obelisks of Egypt" Bob Brier, affectionately known as Mr. Mummy, explains how France’s obsession with Egyptian history set off obelisk mania in Paris, London, and New York City. Obelisks had been painstakingly hand-hewn with stone tools and then, in the 1800s, shipped abroad at great cost and sacrifice—one was nearly lost at sea in a hurricane. We find out what drove the obsession.