Beginning with an unlikely stowaway`s account of life on board Noah`s Ark, A History of the World in 10� � ½ Chapters presents a surprising, subversive, fictional history of earth told from several kaleidoscopic perspectives. Noah disembarks from his ark but he & his Voyage are not forgotten: they are revisited in on other centuries & other climes
- by a Victorian spinster mourning her father, by an American astronaut on an obsessive personal mission. We journey to the Titanic, to the Amazon, to the raft of the Medusa, & to an ecclesiastical court in medieval France where a bizarre case is about to begin... This is no ordinary history, but something stranger, a challenge & a delight for the reader`s imagination. Ambitious yet accessible, witty & playfully serious, this is the work of a brilliant novelist.
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A History of the World in 100 Objects, based on the celebrated BBC Radio 4 series, is an original approach to the history of humanity, using objects which previous civilizations have left behind them, often accidentally, as prisms through which we in the present day can explore past worlds & the lives of the people who lived them. The range of the book is enormous, beginning with the earliest surviving objects made by human hands & ending with a 21st object that represents the world in which we live today. Neil Mac Gregor ...

A History of the World in 100 Objects takes a dramatically original approach to the history of humanity, using objects which previous civilisations have left behind them, often accidentally, as prisms through which we can explore past worlds & the lives of the men & women who lived in them. It begins with one of the earliest surviving objects made by human hands, a chopping tool from the Olduvai gorge in Africa, & ends with an object from the 21st century which represents the world we live in today. Neil Mac Gregor's aim is not simply to describe these remarkable things, but to show us their significance
- how a stone pillar tells us about a great Indian emperor preaching tolerance to his people, how Spanish pieces of eight tell us about the beginning of a global currency or how an early Victorian tea-set tells us about the impact of empire. Each chapter immerses the reader in a past civilisation accompanied by an exceptionally well-informed guide. Seen through this lens, history is a kaleidoscope
- shifting, interconnected, constantly surprising, & shaping our world today in ways that most of us have never imagined. An intellectual & visual feast, it is one of the most engrossing & unusual history books published in years.

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Neil Mac Gregor`s ”A History of the World in 100 Objects” takes a bold, original approach to human history, exploring past civilizations through the objects that defined them. Encompassing a grand sweep of human history, ”A History of the World in 100 Objects” begins with one of the earliest surviving objects made by human hands, a chopping tool from the Olduvai gorge in Africa, & ends with objects which characterise the world we live in today. Seen through Mac Gregor`s eyes, history is a kaleidoscope
- shifting, interconnected, constantly surprising, & shaping our world today in ways that most of us have never imagined. A stone pillar tells us about a great Indian emperor preaching tolerance to his people; Spanish pieces of eight tell us about the beginning of a global currency; & an early Victorian tea-set speaks to us about the impact of empire. An intellectual & visual feast, this is one of the most engrossing & unusual history books published in years. ” Brilliant, engagingly written, deeply researched”. (Mary Beard, ” Guardian”).”A triumph: hugely popular, & rightly lauded as one of the most effective & intellectually ambitious initiatives in the making of `public history` for many decades”. (” Sunday Telegraph”). ” Highly intelligent, delightfully written & utterly absorbing”. (Timothy Clifford, ” Spectator”). ” This is a story book, vivid & witty, shining with insights, connections, shocks & delights”. (Gillian Reynolds, ” Daily Telegraph”). Neil Mac Gregor has been Director of the British Museum since August 2002. His latest book, ” Shakespeare`s Restless World” is an enthralling exploration of Shakespeare`s world, & of the minds of his audiences, based on Neil Mac Gregor`s new 20-part BBC Radio 4 series. Mac Gregor was previously Director of the National Gallery in London from 1987 to 2002.
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Jenni Murray gives the lie to Thomas Carlyle’s infamous declaration that ‘the history of the world is but the biography of great men.’ Women have played just as great a role in the story of humankind, only for their own tales to be marginalised, censored & forgotten. Their names should be shouted from the rooftops. Marie Curie discovered radium & revolutionised medical science. Empress Cixi transformed China. Frida Kahlo turned an unflinching eye on life & death. In A History of the World in 21 Women, Jenni Murray celebrates the lives, struggles & achievements of some of the most extraordinary people to have ever walked the Earth. They ruled empires, they led nations. They were pioneers in the arts & geniuses of science. They led while others followed, spoke truth to power & fought for change. All left behind an indelible mark. ...

The history of our world can be told through numbers. Numbers can illuminate the broad sweep of history, from vast movements of populations & the expansion of empires to the effects of technological achievements or climatic change. They also allow us to drill into the real detail of history, from the page count, the cost & the time it took to produce the Gutenberg Bible (the West`s first mass-produced book) to the price of Virginian tobacco in the 1620s, both of which had an immediate & lasting effect on the course of world history. &, just occasionally, numbers have the power to blow our minds. For example: in 2003, US research showed that one in every 200 men across Eurasia shared genetic material from a single male from 900 years ago; the likely progenitor was Mongol emperor, Genghis Khan. A History of the World in Numbers will span the early civilizations of man, from the plains of Mesopotamia & the Indus Empire, right through to the modern day. The numbers, statistics & figures will dictate the topic of each entry, shining a light on each subject, whether it`s the development of early writing in China or the number of Brodie helmets issued in World War One. ...

Nature, money, work, care, food, energy, & lives: these are the seven things that have made our world & will shape its future. In making these things cheap, modern commerce has transformed, governed, & devastated Earth. In A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, Raj Patel & Jason W. Moore present a new approach to analyzing today`s planetary emergencies. Bringing the latest ecological research together with histories of colonialism, indigenous struggles, slave revolts, & other rebellions & uprisings, Patel & Moore demonstrate that throughout history, crises have always prompted fresh strategies to make the world cheap & safe for capitalism. At a time of crisis in all seven cheap things, innovative & systemic thinking is urgently required. This book proposes a radical new way of understanding-and reclaiming-the planet in the turbulent twenty-first century. ...

A History of the World in Twelve Maps by Jerry Brotton, published by Allen Lane to much praise from its reviewers, takes us on a time journey showing how maps reflected our view of the world & our place in it. Using twelve maps drawn from global history, from the mystical representations of ancient times to the modern satellite-derived imagery, the author ...

Throughout history, maps have been fundamental in shaping our view of the world, & our place in it. But far from being purely scientific objects, maps of the world are unavoidably ideological & subjective, intimately bound up with the systems of power & authority of particular times & places. Mapmakers do not simply represent the world, they construct it out of the ideas of their age. In this scintillating book, Jerry Brotton examines the significance of 12 maps
- from the almost mystical representations of ancient history to the satellite-derived imagery of today. He vividly recreates the environments & circumstances in which each of the maps was made, showing how each conveys a highly individual view of the world. Brotton shows how each of his maps both influenced & reflected contemporary events & how, by reading it, we can better understand the worlds that produced it. Although the way we map our surroundings is changing, Brotton argues that maps today are no more definitive or objective than they have ever been, but that they continue to define, shape & recreate the world. Readers of this book will never look at a map in quite the same way again.
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Renowned historian, & author of ”A Short History of Byzantium”, John Julius Norwich`s classic history of Venice ”A History of Venice” tells the story of this most remarkable of cities from its founding in the fifth century, through its unrivalled status for over a thousand years as one of the world`s busiest & most powerful city states, until its fall at the hands of Napoleon in 1797. Rich in fascinating historical detail, populated by extraordinary characters & packed with a wealth of incident & intrigue, this is a brilliant testament to a great city
- & a great & gripping read. ” Norwich has loved & understood Venice as well as any other Englishman has ever done.” (” Sunday Times”). ” Will become the standard English work of Venetian history.” (” Financial Times”). ” The standard Venetian history in English.” (” The Times”). ” Norwich has the gift of historical perspective, as well as clarity & wit. Few can tell a good story better than he.” (” Spectator” John Julius Norwich was born in 1929). He was educated at Upper Canada College, Toronto, at Eton, at the University of Strasbourg &, after a spell of National Service in the Navy, at New College, Oxford, where he took a degree in French & Russian. In 1952 he joined the Foreign Service, where he remained for twelve years, serving at the embassies in Belgrade & Beirut. In 1964 he resigned from the service to write. He is the author of histories of Norman Sicily, the Republic of Venice & the Byzantine Empire. He has written & presented some thirty historical documentaries on television, & is a regular lecturer on Venice & numerous other subjects.
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