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A History of the World in 100 Objects

» Neil MacGregor

Allen Lane
Hardback : 25 Oct 2010

Synopsis

A chipped stone that was one of the first things ever made by human hands; a clay tablet telling the story of the great flood centuries before the Bible; a broken hunter's spear dropped by one of the earliest settlers in America; a hoard of gold abandoned in the Wars of the Roses ... every object tells a story.

Neil MacGregor's radio series A History of the World in 100 Objects has been a unique event that has set a new benchmark for public service broadcasting in the UK and across the world. This book will be the tie-in to that event, faithfully reproducing the scripts describing the objects that made us who we are, with pictures of the objects themselves, as they were discussed in each episode. It will also be a kaleidoscopic book of history that tells the story of human civilization in an unprecedented way.

Writer and presenter Neil MacGregor tells the fascinating stories behind the objects, which range from primitive tools to great works of art, told chronologically from almost two million years ago up to the present day. The 100th object is yet to be chosen, but will be a contemporary item that will be acquired by the British Museum. Through the stories of these objects the book explores key events in human history, highlighting often unexpected connections and universal themes. No book has described and shown the history of humankind quite like this before.

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Reviews

Critic Review:

‘This is a rare instance of the book being better than the original series… It is heavy and beautiful and something that you might want to hint you would like for Christmas. It is also, ironically, the object that will be picked in the centuries ahead by those who wonder at our grasp of history,’ Alyson Rudd, The Times Book Club

‘MacGregor explores byways not even the most avid visitor to the museum is likely to have explored… [a] wonderful book,’ Tom Holland, The Observer

‘The style is authentic, personal and humorous, and almost tells us as much about the impishly witty MacGregor as it does about the objects,’ Andrew Roberts, Financial Times

‘It is a weighty book, packed with the scholarship of the British Museum's experts, heavy enough to endanger any sleepy reader's spectacles. Not that there will be many such. This is a story book, vivid and witty, shining with insights, connections, shocks and delights,’ Gillian Reynolds, The Daily Telegraph

‘The book is genuinely a 'world history', traversing the globe from remote Scottish Isles to the deserts of aboriginal Australia, and reducing 'our times' to their proper place as a mere moment in the millennia-long span of human history… In his hands, even humdrum objects flash with ideas, not mere surface dazzle… MacGregor has provided a persuasive affirmation of why we need great encyclopaedic museums,’ John Adamson, The Sunday Telegraph

Product details

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