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The world : a family history of humanity / Simon Sebag Montefiore.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2023Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First American editionDescription: xl, 1304 pages : maps ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780525659532
  • 0525659536
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Act one. Houses of Sargon and Ahmose: ziggurats and pyramids ; Houses of Hattusa and Rameses ; The Nubian pharaohs and great kings of Ashur: House Alara versus House Tiglath-Pileser -- Act two. Haxamanis and Alcmaeon: Houses of Persia and Athens ; The Alexandrians and the Haxamanishiya: Eurasian duel ; The Mauryans and the Qin ; The Barcas and the Scipios: the Houses of Carthage and Rome -- Act three. The Han and the Caesars ; Trajans and first step sharks: Romans and the Maya ; Severans and Zenobians: Arab dynasties -- Act four. Houses of Constantine, Sasan and Spearthrower Owl -- Act five. The Muhammad Dynasty ; Tang and Sasan -- Act six. Houses of Muhammad and Charlemagne ; Rurikovichi and the House of Basil ; The Ghanas and the Fatimiyya -- Act seven. Song, Fujiwara and Chola ; Seljuks, Komnenoi and Hautevilles --
Act eight. Genghis: a conquering family ; Khmers, Hohenstaufen and Polos ; The Keitas of Mali and the Habsburgs of Austria -- Act nine. The Tamerlanians, the Ming and the Obas of Benin -- Act ten. Medici and Mexica, Ottomans and Aviz ; Incas, Trastamaras and Rurikovichi ; Manikongos, Borgias and Columbuses ; Habsburgs and Ottomans -- Act eleven. Tamerlanians and Mexica, Ottomans and Safavis ; Incas, Pizarros, Habsburgs and Medici ; Tamerlanians and Rurikovichi, Ottomans and the House of Mendes ; Valois and Saadis, Habsburgs and Rurikovichi -- Act twelve. Dahomeans, Stuarts and Villiers, Tamerlanians and Ottomans ; Zumbas and Oranges, Cromwells and Villiers ; Manchus and Shivajis, Bourbons, Stuarts and Villiers ; Afsharis and Manchus, Hohenzollerns and Habsburgs ; Durranis and Saids, Hemingses and Toussaints ; Romanovs and Durranis, Pitts, Comanche and Kamehamehas --
Act thirteen. Arkwrights and Krupps, Habsburgs, Bourbons and Sansons -- Act fourteen. Bonapartes and Albanians, Wellesleys and Rothschilds ; Zulus and Saudis, Christophes, Kamehamehas and Astors -- Act fifteen. Braganzas and Zulus, Albanians, Dahomeans and Vanderbilts -- Act sixteen. Bonapartes and Manchus, Habsburgs and Comanche -- Act seventeen. Hohenzollerns and Krupps, Albanians and Lakotas -- Act eighteen. The Houses of Solomon and Asante, Habsburg and Saxe-Coburg ; The Houses of Hohenzollern and Roosevelt, Solomon and Manchu -- Act nineteen. Hohenzollerns, Krupps, Ottomans, Tennos and Songs ; Hohenzollerns, Habsburgs and Hashemites ; Pahlavis and Songs, Roosevelts, Mafiosi and Kennedys -- Act twenty. Roosevelts, Suns, Krupps, Pahlavis and Saudis -- Act twenty-one. Nehrus, Maos and Suns, Mafiosi, Hashemites and Albanians ; Norodoms and Kennedys, Castros, Kenyattas and Obamas ; Hashemites and Kennedys, Maos, Nehruvians and Assads ; Houses of Solomon and Bush, Bourbon, Pahlavi and Castro -- Act twenty-two. Yeltsins and Xis, Nehruvians and Assads, Bin Ladens, Kims and Obamas -- Act twenty-three. Trumps and Xis, Sauds, Assads and Kims.
Summary: "From the acclaimed author of The Romanovs-a magisterial history of humanity viewed through the lens of its most powerful dynasties In this sprawling and eye-opening book, best-selling historian Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the world's great dynasties across human history through engrossing tales of palace intrigue, glorious battle, and the real lives of people who held unfathomable power. He trains his eye on founders of humble origin, like Sargon, the Mesopotamian cupbearer sent to help defeat a rival who returned with an army to dethrone his own king, and Liu Bang, a peasant who became a rebel leader and founded the Han dynasty. Montefiore illuminates the achievements of fearsome emperors, including Yax Ehb Xook, whose Mayan city-state Tikal boasts some of the most monumental ancient architecture that exists today; Jayavarman II, who proclaimed himself "universal king" and whose Khmer empire in South Asia heralded a thousand years of Indic ascendancy; and Ewuare, the African emperor who built a capital city that rivaled any in Europe. He writes, too, about remarkable women rulers, like Hatshepsut, the first female pharaoh, and Maria Theresa, the only woman to rule the Habsburg empire. These families represent the breadth of human endeavor, with bloody civil wars, treacherous conspiracies, and shocking megalomania alongside flourishing culture, moving romances, and enlightened benevolence. A dazzling epic history as spellbinding as fiction, The World is testament to Montefiore's acclaimed career as our poet laureate of power"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 929.7 S443 Available 33111011275084
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A magisterial world history unlike any other that tells the story of humanity through the one thing we all have in common: families * From the author of The Romanovs

A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, Smithsonian

" Succession meets Game of Thrones ." -- The Spectator * "The author brings his cast of dynastic titans, rogues and psychopaths to life...An epic that both entertains and informs." -- The Economist, Best Books of the Year

Around 950,000 years ago, a family of five walked along the beach and left behind the oldest family footprints ever discovered. For award-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, these poignant, familiar fossils serve as an inspiration for a new kind of world history, one that is genuinely global, spans all eras and all continents, and focuses on the family ties that connect every one of us.

In this epic, ever-surprising book, Montefiore chronicles the world's great dynasties across human history through palace intrigues, love affairs, and family lives, linking grand themes of war, migration, plague, religion, and technology to the people at the heart of the human drama.

It features a cast of extraordinary diversity: in addition to rulers and conquerors, there are priests, charlatans, artists, scientists, tycoons, gangsters, lovers, husbands, wives, and children. There is Hongwu, the beggar who founded the Ming dynasty; Ewuare, the Leopard-King of Benin; Henry Christophe, King of Haiti; Kamehameha, the conqueror of Hawaii; Zenobia, the Arab empress who defied Rome; Lady Murasaki, the first female novelist; Sayyida al-Hurra, the Moroccan pirate-queen. Here too are moderns such as Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, and Volodymyr Zelensky. Here are 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.

These powerful families represent the breadth of human endeavor, with bloody succession battles, treacherous conspiracies, and shocking megalomania alongside flourishing culture, moving romances, and enlightened benevolence. A dazzling achievement as spellbinding as fiction, The World captures the whole human story in a single, masterful narrative.

Maps on end papers.

"Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicholson ... London, in 2022"--Title page verso.

"This is a Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf" -- Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Act one. Houses of Sargon and Ahmose: ziggurats and pyramids ; Houses of Hattusa and Rameses ; The Nubian pharaohs and great kings of Ashur: House Alara versus House Tiglath-Pileser -- Act two. Haxamanis and Alcmaeon: Houses of Persia and Athens ; The Alexandrians and the Haxamanishiya: Eurasian duel ; The Mauryans and the Qin ; The Barcas and the Scipios: the Houses of Carthage and Rome -- Act three. The Han and the Caesars ; Trajans and first step sharks: Romans and the Maya ; Severans and Zenobians: Arab dynasties -- Act four. Houses of Constantine, Sasan and Spearthrower Owl -- Act five. The Muhammad Dynasty ; Tang and Sasan -- Act six. Houses of Muhammad and Charlemagne ; Rurikovichi and the House of Basil ; The Ghanas and the Fatimiyya -- Act seven. Song, Fujiwara and Chola ; Seljuks, Komnenoi and Hautevilles --

Act eight. Genghis: a conquering family ; Khmers, Hohenstaufen and Polos ; The Keitas of Mali and the Habsburgs of Austria -- Act nine. The Tamerlanians, the Ming and the Obas of Benin -- Act ten. Medici and Mexica, Ottomans and Aviz ; Incas, Trastamaras and Rurikovichi ; Manikongos, Borgias and Columbuses ; Habsburgs and Ottomans -- Act eleven. Tamerlanians and Mexica, Ottomans and Safavis ; Incas, Pizarros, Habsburgs and Medici ; Tamerlanians and Rurikovichi, Ottomans and the House of Mendes ; Valois and Saadis, Habsburgs and Rurikovichi -- Act twelve. Dahomeans, Stuarts and Villiers, Tamerlanians and Ottomans ; Zumbas and Oranges, Cromwells and Villiers ; Manchus and Shivajis, Bourbons, Stuarts and Villiers ; Afsharis and Manchus, Hohenzollerns and Habsburgs ; Durranis and Saids, Hemingses and Toussaints ; Romanovs and Durranis, Pitts, Comanche and Kamehamehas --

Act thirteen. Arkwrights and Krupps, Habsburgs, Bourbons and Sansons -- Act fourteen. Bonapartes and Albanians, Wellesleys and Rothschilds ; Zulus and Saudis, Christophes, Kamehamehas and Astors -- Act fifteen. Braganzas and Zulus, Albanians, Dahomeans and Vanderbilts -- Act sixteen. Bonapartes and Manchus, Habsburgs and Comanche -- Act seventeen. Hohenzollerns and Krupps, Albanians and Lakotas -- Act eighteen. The Houses of Solomon and Asante, Habsburg and Saxe-Coburg ; The Houses of Hohenzollern and Roosevelt, Solomon and Manchu -- Act nineteen. Hohenzollerns, Krupps, Ottomans, Tennos and Songs ; Hohenzollerns, Habsburgs and Hashemites ; Pahlavis and Songs, Roosevelts, Mafiosi and Kennedys -- Act twenty. Roosevelts, Suns, Krupps, Pahlavis and Saudis -- Act twenty-one. Nehrus, Maos and Suns, Mafiosi, Hashemites and Albanians ; Norodoms and Kennedys, Castros, Kenyattas and Obamas ; Hashemites and Kennedys, Maos, Nehruvians and Assads ; Houses of Solomon and Bush, Bourbon, Pahlavi and Castro -- Act twenty-two. Yeltsins and Xis, Nehruvians and Assads, Bin Ladens, Kims and Obamas -- Act twenty-three. Trumps and Xis, Sauds, Assads and Kims.

"From the acclaimed author of The Romanovs-a magisterial history of humanity viewed through the lens of its most powerful dynasties In this sprawling and eye-opening book, best-selling historian Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the world's great dynasties across human history through engrossing tales of palace intrigue, glorious battle, and the real lives of people who held unfathomable power. He trains his eye on founders of humble origin, like Sargon, the Mesopotamian cupbearer sent to help defeat a rival who returned with an army to dethrone his own king, and Liu Bang, a peasant who became a rebel leader and founded the Han dynasty. Montefiore illuminates the achievements of fearsome emperors, including Yax Ehb Xook, whose Mayan city-state Tikal boasts some of the most monumental ancient architecture that exists today; Jayavarman II, who proclaimed himself "universal king" and whose Khmer empire in South Asia heralded a thousand years of Indic ascendancy; and Ewuare, the African emperor who built a capital city that rivaled any in Europe. He writes, too, about remarkable women rulers, like Hatshepsut, the first female pharaoh, and Maria Theresa, the only woman to rule the Habsburg empire. These families represent the breadth of human endeavor, with bloody civil wars, treacherous conspiracies, and shocking megalomania alongside flourishing culture, moving romances, and enlightened benevolence. A dazzling epic history as spellbinding as fiction, The World is testament to Montefiore's acclaimed career as our poet laureate of power"-- Provided by publisher.

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