The year is 1799. The year before, Napoleon Bonaparte, the newest upstart among Republican France's generals, led a large expeditionary force across the Mediterranean to conquer Egypt, where he remains. Well enough; but why? France's enemies are in Europe, not Africa. Egypt, the fabled land of the Pharaohs, is of no earthly use to this young Napoleon. Or is it? Could it be that Egypt is intended only as a stepping stone for an invasion of Britain's...