The World: A Family History
£11.40£16.10 (-29%)
THE TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR
ONE OF THE ECONOMIST’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
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.
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Additional information
| Publisher | 1st edition (1 Aug. 2023), W&N |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 1344 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 178022561X |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1780225616 |
| Dimensions | 12.8 x 6.6 x 19.8 cm |
by Susan Marsh – Armstrong
This is an excellent and fascinating book on world history! Presented in a readable way is is enlightening and explains through historic events much of todays problems! A must read for history lovers.
by Sally Shiels
The human race is not very nice at all. Simon has written a massive book on the history of the world, its a sort of horrible histories for adults. We are a nasty, horrid, murdering, blood thirsty race only interested in land acquisition and power and rape of the lands and people for financial gain and nothing will stand in our way. Nepotism, Machiavellian, despots, dictators, kings and queens, servants and slaves and revolutionaries . And as for the women, blimey ! Its all there and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and learnt so much, history lessons at school were never this interesting or fun if you can call it fun. (there is wry humour in it) The sort of book to read while cringing and saying urgh quite a lot and it’s sad to say the human race still has much to learn from the past. Thank you Simon its a wonderful book well researched and as always you write so well, I’ll be buying more copies to give as gifts but I’m glad to say my copy was on kindle which I think was much more manageable. So what next Simon? how do you top that?
by Ms. P. M. Bird
What to say of such a ‘damned thick, square book’ except that the perspective is brilliant, amd the footnotes up to the standard of Gibbon and Herodotus as their gossipy best. Brilliant – probably a bit heavy to pack in physical copy but a wonderful holiday read.
by Misspuddleduck
So good, I bought one for a friend
by Clintsmate
I was very much looking forward to reading this tome but was surprised that it was such an uninspiring read, from start to finish.
I appreciate that the challenges of writing a book to cover the huge swathe of subject matter that this one attempts to are numerous. My problem is with the seemingly random way the author has gone about his task.
I was left with the impression that he gathered so much information that he felt he had to share it all with the reader. This led to a plethora of names, families, and situations, which appeared to be dropped into the narrative out of the blue.
The first three quarters of the book felt very unstructured, covering such an enormous span of history that nothing seemed to be connected to anything else.
The author flitted from continent to continent, from family to obscure family, as though picking up notes scattered on the study floor and fitting them in as and when they came to hand.
So vast was the quantity of factual information that the author was determined to impart that I rarely knew who most of the protagonists were. Some of the links between the protagonists were so tenuous as to be laughable, and many of the facts about them peripheral at best.
The latter part of the book became a potted history of events, and was no more engaging than the earlier parts.
I ploughed on to the end, because I have read several of the author’s books and have admired and enjoyed them. I was left feeling that the conclusion, where the author raises several valid concerns about the near future, was pretty much the only interesting part of the volume.
After spending well over a thousand pages giving examples of the despicable behaviour of almost all of the families and individuals in the book, I could not agree with the author’s final few sentences where he suggests that there is still reason for optimism.
I would not suggest it is worth the time it takes to read this disappointing book.
by HBH
The World: A Family History by Simon Sebag Montefiore is a very good book that tells the story of humanity from pre-historic times to the present day. It is a well-written and informative work that, through the medium of families and familiar relationships, chronicles the history of the world.
The author, using this interesting approach, explores a wide range of events from across the entire globe and examine lives and stories that are perhaps less well-known to readers used to a more euro-centric view of history. As the book covers a vast breadth of time, a multitude of places and numerous incidents, it will, however, perhaps not be as detailed as some individuals may like – although for others, it may fire the imagination to discover more about a subject(s) that has caught their interest.
Overall, a very good book.
by Mrs Royle
For starters, the book is so massive that I cut it in two to handle it.
I understand the concept of the dynasties, but half way through I am tiring of the endless cruelties. For instance: Gruesome detail on Tamerlan, but only a few sentences on his son who ruled for 40 years and was a cultured individual.
An admirable effort all the same.
by millhall
To call this book a momentous achievement is a gross understatement. It almost beggars belief that one man could dare to try to summarise world history from pre history till now yet Montefiore has attempted just that. He uses families to recount how power and progress have shaped humanity. Given that he is himself part of an ancient Jewish dynasty, it is no surprise that Jewish involvement in history attracts frequent references. I was surprised and saddened that the author seems almost obsessed with the sexual proclivities and habits of almost all his chosen subjects to such an extent that it almost spoiled the book for me. Similarly, although violence and power do go hand in hand, the author seemed to delight in the gory details of violence which did not seem necessary. The breadth and depth of the global canvas on which he paints is breathtaking and I was somewhat overwhelmed with the constant torrent of detail. Rather like taking off a pair of tight shoes I was relieved to finish the book but will never forget it. At the end, Montefiore defends his decision to use a limited bibliography at the end of each chapter but I do not think that worked well since cross referring the additional information was often difficult.