The sacred chest said to have been built by the Israelites to house the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, the Ark of the Covenant has long captured the popular imagination. According to the Bible, the Israelites carried it with them as they wandered in the wilderness and entered the promised land. After the Temple of Solomon was built, the Ark was kept in an inner sanctum where God made his divine presence felt to the Israelites. The Hebrew Bible is unclear about what happened to the Ark after the destruction of the temple and offers vague accounts of its function. Despite (or because of) this ambiguity, the Ark continues to hold an important place in Jewish and Christian tradition, even in its absence, and has led to much popular speculation. Widely imagined and re-imagined, it is perhaps today best known in popular culture as the object sought by Indiana Jones in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In Readers of the Lost Ark Kevin McGeough explores the different ways people have interpreted and made sense of the Ark from ancient times to the present, in biblical literature, theological discourse, art, popular film, travel souvenirs, toys, faith-healing events, and alternative histories. The book recounts stories of people who have sought to find the Ark of the Covenant and examines how the Ark takes on new meanings in Europe, North America, East Asia, Ethiopia, and the modern Middle East.