The World
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3.7 • 9 Ratings
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- £12.99
Publisher Description
THE TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR
ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
From the master storyteller and internationally bestselling author - the story of humanity from prehistory to the present day, told through the one thing all humans have in common: family.
We begin with the footsteps of a family walking along a beach 950,000 years ago. From here, Montefiore takes us on an exhilarating epic journey through the families that have shaped our world: the Caesars, Medicis and Incas, Ottomans and Mughals, Bonapartes, Habsburgs and Zulus, Rothschilds, Rockefellers and Krupps, Churchills, Kennedys, Castros, Nehrus, Pahlavis and Kenyattas, Saudis, Kims and Assads.
A rich cast of complex characters form the beating heart of the story. Some are well-known leaders, from Alexander the Great, Attila, Ivan the Terrible and Genghis Khan to Hitler, Thatcher, Obama, Putin and Zelensky. Some are creative, from Socrates, Michelangelo and Shakespeare to Newton, Mozart, Balzac, Freud, Bowie and Tim Berners-Lee.
Others are lesser-known: Hongwu, who began life as a beggar and founded the Ming dynasty; Kamehameha, conqueror of Hawaii; Zenobia, Arab empress who defied Rome; King Henry of Haiti; Lady Murasaki, first female novelist; Sayyida al-Hurra, Moroccan pirate-queen. Here are not just conquerors and queens but prophets, charlatans, actors, gangsters, artists, scientists, doctors, tycoons, lovers, wives, husbands and children.
This is world history on the most grand and intimate scale - spanning centuries, continents and cultures, and linking grand themes of war, migration, plague, religion, medicine and technology to the people at the centre of the human drama. As spellbinding as fiction, The World captures the story of humankind in all its joy, sorrow, romance, ingenuity and cruelty in a ground-breaking, single narrative that will forever shift the boundaries of what history can achieve.
Customer Reviews
Too often jarring
This is a brief comment on the reading rather than the book itself. There are multiple female and male readers of multiple accents, with inconsistent volumes and audio quality, which I found jarring. Worse, most readers often don’t seem to be cope with commas, using intonation and pauses indistinguishable from full stops, which makes it especially jarring. I also wish they had distinguished quotes more clearly. There are, though, a few beautiful readers which I look forward to between the less effective ones even if I need to fiddle with the volume on my phone at changes
Such a fresh approach
Outstanding and so good to have a truly global picture to contextualise well known events, some pronunciation issues in the Audio
Terrible narration
What a superb book! Sadly it’s totally spoiled by some appalling narrators who appear not to understand the text and cannot make the material meaningful. It’s variable- some are great- but I wish I’d just bought the book not the audiobook. Such a shame.