Simon Sebag Montefiore is the internationally bestselling author of prize-winning books that have been published in forty-eight languages. CATHERINE THE GREAT & POTEMKIN was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize; STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR won History Book of the Year Prize at the British Book Awards; YOUNG STALIN won the Costa Biography Award, the LA Times Book Prize for Biography, the Kreisky Prize and the Grand Prix de la Biographie Politique; JERUSALEM: THE BIOGRAPHY won the JBC Book of the Year Prize and the Wenjin Book Prize in China; THE ROMANOVS: 1613-1918 won the Lupicaia del Terriccio Book Prize. He is the author of the Moscow Trilogy of novels: SASHENKA, RED SKY AT NOON and ONE NIGHT IN WINTER, which won the Political Fiction Book of the Year Award. He is also the author of WRITTEN IN HISTORY: LETTERS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD and VOICES OF HISTORY: SPEECHES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD.
A history of the world from the Neanderthals to Trump. It's a
rollicking tale, a kaleidoscope of savagery, sex, cruelty and
chaos. By focusing on family, Montefiore provides an intimacy
usually lacking in global histories. [It] has personality and a
soul. It's also outrageously funny . . . an enormously entertaining
book
*THE TIMES*
A delightful world history, told through influential families. A
moreish chronicle. The device of weaving together the past using
the most enduring and essential unit of human relations is inspired
. . . [it] allows the author to cover every continent and era, and
to give women and even children a voice and presence that they tend
to be denied in more conventional histories. Despite the book's
formidable length, there is never a dull moment . . . this book is
a triumph and a delight, an epic that entertains, informs and
appals in enjoyably equal measure
*THE ECONOMIST*
Magnificent . . . magisterial . . . [a] real-life Game of Thrones.
Dip into this book anywhere and the minutiae of history leap off
the page . . . Dip too into the author's copious footnotes and
there are gems to be mined. Often sassy, always entertaining . . .
To my mind what it gives above all is perspective from which comes
understanding and not a little wisdom
*DAILY MAIL, Book of the Week*
For any reader with the stomach for bloodshed and megalomaniac
ambition, for anyone with a taste for Ptolemaic depravities or who
would simply like to spend some quality time with China's imperial
eunuchs, Montefiore's 'World' . . . will deliver it and more in
spades. The author's major achievement is to make us see the world
through a different lens - to make the unfamiliar familiar and,
more important, the familiar unfamiliar. There is hardly a dull
paragraph
*THE SPECTATOR*
An incredible undertaking. Montefiore finds enduring resonances and
offers new perspectives . . . Because these are family stories, he
adeptly eschews traditionally male histories to find greater
texture and diversity. A remarkable achievement
*OBSERVER*
A history of pretty much everything everywhere from the evolution
of Homo sapiens to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Dip into any page
and you'll find history rushing by in prose that combines clarity,
liveliness and even deadpan humour with intriguing asides a
speciality . . . a staggering achievement
*DAILY TELEGRAPH*
Succeeds in scintillating fashion . . . an epic rich in detail . .
. on each page, you'll find an interesting idea, a witty
observation or a footnote containing an anecdote emblematic of a
wider point. Montefiore pays attention to the lives of women and
children and to places slighted by Western historians. This is an
extraordinary work of wisdom and vivid storytelling
*LITERARY REVIEW*
[A] rollicking, globetrotting truly global history spanning almost
every continent . . . [A] thrilling tapestry. Only a highly skilled
storyteller could so deftly grip attention across more than six
millennia . . . packed with lavish and pullulating detail. The
World is wildly entertaining . . . certainly enriching . . . [and]
bracingly profane
*TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT*
This is not just an undoubted book of the year but of many years .
. . a treasure trove of marvellous stories, brilliantly researched
and absorbingly told, fascinating characters who leap off the
pages
*DAILY MAIL, Books of the Year*
Don't be put off by the doorstopper length: this is a riveting
page-turner. The author brings his cast of dynastic titans, rogues
and psychopaths to life with pithy, witty pen portraits, ladling on
the sex and violence. An epic that both entertains and informs
*THE ECONOMIST, Best Books of 2022*
A monumental survey of dynastic rule: how to get it, how to keep
it, how to squander it . . . Montefiore energetically fulfills his
promise to write a 'genuine world history, not unbalanced by
excessive focus on Britain and Europe.' In zesty sentences and
lively vignettes, he captures the widening global circuits of
people, commerce, and culture
*NEW YORKER*
A tour de force - hugely ambitious, erudite and filled with
surprises - that puts the family and families back into the heart
of history
*PETER FRANKOPAN*
Terrific. Monumental . . . full of fun . . . a rollicking read.
Montefiore is very good at finding the little incidental details
which bring things to life
*TIMES RADIO*
Masterful and truly staggering
*BBC HISTORY REVEALED*
The World is almost narcotic to read
*JEWISH CHRONICLE*
A staggering achievement. Montefiore has given us a tremendous
gift: a pulsingly readable world history through the millennia and
from one end of the globe to the other
*SIMON SCHAMA*
One extraordinary story follows another, all of them
extraordinarily well told. It is hard to stop turning the pages . .
. One of the commonest criticisms of world histories such as Jared
Diamond's Guns Germs & Steel or Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens is that
they are all about the vast impersonal forces . . . Montefiore's
family-centred alternative is the perfect antidote, revelling in
the peculiarities and downright perversities of its all-too-human
cast . . . Montefiore's vignettes are fascinating . . . There's no
doubting that family is the central institution of human history
and Montefiore's overview of its most recent five millennia is
entertaining and consistently interesting
*FINANCIAL TIMES*
Succession meets Game of Thrones
*MAIL PLUS*
It contains a vast breadth of knowledge about the world, acquired
from a lifetime of reading, and all told through the stories of
some of the most influential families in history
*GEOGRAPHICAL*
Compelling, moving, epic and diverse, Montefiore's wonderful
storytelling prowess and the wide research pulls off this
unparalleled world history in a single narrative with unforgettable
style. All the drama of humankind is here from cavemen to Putin and
Zelensky
*OLIVETTE OTELE*
One word for Montefiore's book: magisterial
*BEN OKRI*
There is a certain satisfaction in holding, and reading a bulky
tome. Simon Sebag Montefiore's The World: A Family History requires
strong wrists, but is well worth the physical effort. It is a most
readable and fascinating history of humanity from the perspective
of that most enduring of institutions: the family. There is
pleasure and learning on every one
*NEW STATESMAN*
In this work of astonishing scope and erudition, Montefiore
interweaves the stories of the servants, courtiers and kings,
pioneers, preachers and philosophers who have made history. A
brilliant synthesis that will impart fresh insight to even the most
learned readers
*HENRY KISSINGER*
An incredible piece of work . . . it's incredibly easy to read,
written so eloquently. Delightful
*LBC*
Magnificent
*THE TIMES*
You're in for quite a ride: The World pulsates with hundreds of
human stories that Montefiore brings to life in vivid convincing
fashion. Combining literary flair with keen insight into human
psychology, he can evoke a person with a few choice words.Among the
many strengths of The World is its truly global perspective. This
is an unabashedly multicultural history that refuses to privilege
any particular perspective, be it geographic, cultural or
ethnic
*WALL STREET JOURNAL*
Excellent . . . I was captivated from the first page . . . The most
cinematic achievement is one of global connectiveness
*SUNDAY TIMES (South Africa)*
Montefiore's most ambitious work yet. It is erudite but never
boring . . . There is also a great deal of humour . . . If more
politicians and policymakers spent time studying history, they
might avoid making the sort of lamentable mistakes that Bush and
Blair made in Afghanistan and Iraq. The World would be a good place
to start
*REACTION*
Do not be daunted by its length. The narrative is pacy and there is
not a page wasted. The author has produced a masterclass in style
and structure
*ASPECTS OF HISTORY, Books of the Year*
An epic global history that is cleverly and thrillingly told
*ASPECTS OF HISTORY, Books of the Year*
Written with lashings of elan, I raced through it . . . This
special book should please any lover of history
*ASPECTS OF HISTORY, Books of the Year*
A brilliant book, and its examination of our species' experiences
through the prism of the family is truly inspired
*General David Petraeus*
Highly recommended . . . Only a historian of Montefiore's calibre
could pull off such an outstanding and wide-ranging work as this
multi-layered and riveting study combining world history, geography
and the evolution of humankind while exploring the world's greatest
dynasties . . . So many interesting facts alongside captivating
biographical stories. Montefiore is a master storyteller
*THE LADY*
Important and mesmerizing
*Michael Beschloss, author of PRESIDENTS OF WAR*
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