Extract | The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places

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Extracts

Discover the stories that defined humanity and shaped our world

The Story of the World in 100 Moments

Fascinating...This reminds us of the great, enduring importance of looking back at the past in order to better understand the present and help us in the future. A must-read this year.

Oliver continues to write his beautiful, lyrical stories, and refuses to be anything other than himself. Maybe the people who persist in throwing ideological toilet paper at him could learn something from that.  Meanwhile, for the rest of us, the best way to see Neil Oliver as he really is, is to read his books.

Neil Oliver was born in Renfrew in Scotland. He studied archaeology at the University of Glasgow and worked as an archaeologist before training as a journalist. Since 2002 he has presented various TV series including Coast (in the UK and in the antipodes) A History of Ancient Britain, Vikings and Sacred Wonders of Britain. He is the author of several non-fiction books including the bestsellers The Story of Britain in 100 Places, The Story of the World in 100 Moments and Wisdom of the Ancients, and one novel. He lives in Stirling with his wife, three children and two Irish wolfhounds.

'Oliver is an evocative storyteller, vividly bringing his tales to life' BBC History 
 
From Genghis Khan's domination on earth to Armstrong's first steps on the moon, discover the 100 moments that defined humanity and shaped our world forever. 
 
Neil Oliver takes us on a whistle-stop tour around the world and through a million years to give us this unique and invaluable grasp of how human history pieces together. 
 
From the east to the west, north to south, these 100 moments act like stepping stones allowing us to make sense of how these pivotal events have shaped the world we know today. 
 
Including many moments readers will expect - from the advent of the printing press to the birth of the internet - there are also surprises, and with them, some remarkable, unforgettable stories that give a whole new insight on our past. 
 
From the bestselling author of The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places, this is outstanding new history of how our world was made from 5000 BC to the present. 
 
********************* 
Praise for Neil Oliver 
 
'Neil Oliver writes beautifully - bringing the past to life and letting us see ourselves in a new light.' - Professor Alice Roberts 
'Brilliantly demonstrates Neil's mastery of the broad sweep of British history and landscape.' - Dan Snow 
'Highly-crafted...a vivid, pungent history.' - TLS 
'Compelling' - Daily Mail

Life lessons from our distant past

Wisdom of the Ancients

Following on from the huge success of The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places, bestselling author and BBC historian Neil Oliver shows us how we can use the wisdom of our ancestors to find the answers for a more fulfilling life.

Reading Wisdom of the Ancients is like putting on the finest headphones ever made. Here, cutting out the background noise of a society fevered by consumption and sensation...is a book that really makes you think and offers up the excitement of discovering things that when you read them make you fizz like understanding a foreign language you never realised you knew. This book is the equivalent of diving into a cool sea on a baking hot day, you emerge smiley and refreshed. I wish I had written this.

Neil Oliver writes beautifully - bringing the past to life and letting us see ourselves in a new light.

A fascinating fact-laden expedition through the ages. Oliver's erudition shines off every page.

THE PERFECT READ FOR TROUBLED TIMES 
 
From the bestselling author of The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places comes this inspiring and beautifully written meditation on the wisdom inherited from our ancestors. 
 
For all we have gained in the modern world, simple peace of mind is hard to find. In a time that is increasingly fraught with complexity and conflict, we are told that our wellbeing relies on remaining as present as possible. But what if the key to being present lies in the past? 
 
In Wisdom of the Ancients, Neil Oliver takes us back in time, to grab hold of the ideas buried in forgotten cultures and early civilizations. From Laetoli footprints in Tanzania to Keralan rituals, stone circles and cave paintings, Oliver takes us on a global journey through antiquity. A master storyteller, drawing on immense knowledge of our ancient past, he distils this wisdom into twelve messages that have endured the test of time, and invites us to consider how these might apply to our lives today. The result is powerful and inspirational, moving and profound.

The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places

Beautifully written, evocative, and deeply personal account of what makes the British Isles so special from one of television's best loved historians. The paperback edition of one of  the top 5 history HB bestsellers of 2019.

A collection of highly crafted historical-archaeological microessays, each centred on a significant place in Britain or Ireland. Few popular history books are as pleasingly tactile as this one..a vivid, pungent history

This book brilliantly demonstrates Neil's mastery of the broad sweep of British history and landscape.

In his introduction Neil Oliver calls the British ‘a lucky, blessed people’, and his book holds up a mirror to that national self-image. Oliver’s timeline journey travels from prehistoric footprints off the Norfolk coast to the Ozymandias folly of the Millennium Dome, from a tiny, exquisite jewel crafted for King Alfred the Great to great enigmatic stone forts in the West of Ireland that are being eaten by the sea. Stories we have been telling ourselves for thousands of years are falling on deaf ears or being forgotten, says Oliver. Here in a hundred fascinating doses is the antidote to that millennial malaise.

Christopher Somerville, The Times walking correspondent, author of The January Man

Neil Oliver brings his vast experience and expertise to bear on this deeply personal journey into British history - a wonderful read.

Everyone should have two copies – one for the car and one for the house to plan journeys. It’s a robust rebuke to the satnav – a reminder to think more about the places you pass and less about your route, because every British journey is through rich history.

"Everyone should have two copies - one for the car and one for the house to plan journeys. . . a reminder to think more about the places you pass and less about your route, because every British journey is through rich history." (Edward Stourton) 
 
From much-loved historian Neil Oliver, comes this beautifully written, kaleidoscopic history of a place with a story like no other. 
 
The British Isles, this archipelago of islands, is to Neil Oliver the best place in the world. From north to south, east to west it cradles astonishing beauty. The human story here is a million years old, and counting. But the tolerant, easygoing peace we enjoy has been hard won. We have made and known the best and worst of times. We have been hero and villain and all else in between, and we have learned some lessons. 
 
The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places is Neil’s very personal account of what makes these islands so special, told through the places that have witnessed the unfolding of our history. Beginning with footprints made in the sand by humankind’s earliest ancestors, he takes us via Romans and Vikings, the flowering of religion, through civil war, industrial revolution and two world wars. From windswept headlands to battlefields, ancient trees to magnificent cathedrals, each of his destinations is a place where, somehow, the spirit of the past seems to linger.

Amazing Tales for Making Men out of Boys

Discover inspiring stories of heroism, adventure, endurance and survival from throughout history. 
 
Captain Robert Falcon Scott didn't start out life as a hero. In fact, as a boy he was considered small, frail and shy. So what was it that turned this ordinary man into a legend? 
 
 Through his gripping account of how this modest naval officer became Scott of the Antarctic, Neil Oliver vividly relates the awe-inspiring tales of brave men that inspired Britain's greatest hero, including Nelson, Sir John Moore, and the Demons of Camerone. 
 
And alongside these epic stories of courage, fortitude and sacrifice, Oliver recounts how the spirit of Scott lives on - from Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 13 mission, to the SAS and the Battle of Mirbat. 
 
Young and old alike will enjoy reading these brave stories of men who understood - as Scott always did - that it was more important to die a hero than live a coward's life. 
________ 
 
 'A joy from start to finish' Sunday Telegraph 
 
'A great book . . . I shall treasure it' Sir Ranulph Fiennes 
 
'A must-have collection' The Times

Presenter of the hugely popular BBC series Coast, Neil Oliver is an archaeologist and author. His television credits also include Two Men in a Trench and The One Show. Neil lives in Glasgow with his wife and three children, Evie, Archie and Teddy.

Captain Robert Falcon Scott didn't start out life as a hero. In fact, as a boy and young man he was considered small, frail and shy. So what was it that turned this ordinary man into a legend? 
 
Through his gripping new account of how this modest naval officer became Scott of the Antarctic, Neil Oliver vividly relates the awe-inspiring tales that inspired Britain's greatest hero. And alongside these epics of courage, fortitude and sacrifice, Oliver tells the astonishing stories of those heroes who followed Scott and whose deeds stood comparison with this iconic explorer's own humbling example. 
 
From Rorke's Drift to the Battle of Britain and Nelson to Neil Armstrong, these are men who understood - as Scott always did - that it was more important to die a hero than live a coward's life.

Neil Oliver

A Book of Ghosts and Where to Find Them Across 25 Eerie British Locations

For longer than recorded history there have been tales of spirits and of places where our hackles rise and our skin turns cold. 
 
Bestselling historian Neil Oliver travels the British Isles on a deliciously spine-chilling tour that spans several centuries and explores more than 20 sites - castles, vicarages and towers, lonely shorelines and forgotten battlefields - to unpick their stories.. 
 
Oliver invokes his family's history alongside that of kings and queens past as he probes why our emotions and senses are heightened in certain locations where the separation between dimensions seems gossamer thin. Our landscape is riven with these places, creaking from the weight of the secrets they hold, the echoes of tragedy and dark deeds . From Inverness to Devon, Co Dublin to Norfolk, Hauntings casts an enjoyably eerie glow with stories that, told generation after generation, are inextricable from place - and considers why they matter.

Neil Oliver

Hauntings

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