' A writer of genius' - William Dalrymple ' Remarkable' - Kwame Anthony Appiah
' Utterly captivating' - Anthony Doerr Can anyone really own a culture? This
magnificent account argues that the story of global civilisations is one of mixing sharing
and borrowing. It shows how art forms have crisscrossed continents over centuries to produce
masterpieces. From Nefertiti' s lost city and the Islamic Golden Age to twentieth century
Nigerian theatre and Modernist poetry Martin Puchner explores how contact between different
peoples has driven artistic innovation in every era - whilst cultural policing and purism have
more often undermined the very societies they tried to protect. Travelling through Classical
Greece Ashoka' s India Tang dynasty China and many other epochs this triumphal new
history reveals the crossing points which have not only inspired the humanities but which have
made us human.
