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.
