Archaeology, Sexism, and Scandal: The Long-Suppressed Story of One Woman’s Discoveries and the Man Who Stole Credit for Them

A chance discovery of the letters and journals of Mary Ross Ellingson, a John Hopkins graduate student in the early 1930s, plunged archeologist Kaiser into the world of 1930s classical archeology. Ellingson’s words revealed little-known information about one of the most important excavations in classical archeology: the 1931 season at Olynthus, Greece. Kaiser guides readers through his discovery, uncovering details about the daily lives of people on the dig—and sexism in the field at the time. Unfortunately, this interesting story is buried in an unfortunate structure and delivery. The book is not merely the story that emerged from Kaiser’s research: it’s the story of him researching, complete with commentary about how he ought to stop reading and go home to dinner. The peculiar format’s purpose only becomes clear near the end, when Kaiser addresses the hurdles he faced trying to publish an academic article on Ellingson. The scandal promised in the book’s title isn’t revealed until the book’s finale, making this less a work about the scandal than about the 1931 dig and its participants. Ellingson’s story is an important one, but Kaiser’s delivery is awkward and disappointing. [em](Dec.) [/em]