Through a vivid and dramatic interrogation of the past, this book examines and illuminates the nature of Western civilization from its earliest incarnations to the present.
Roger Osborne's work has provided a range of innovative insights
into our views of the past, and how they inform the present. His
previous books include The Floating Egg- Episodes in the Making of
Geology, The Deprat Affair- Ambition, Revenge and Deceit in French
Indo-China, The Dreamer of the Calle San Salvador- Visions of
Sedition and Sacrilege in Sixteenth-Century Spain, Civilization- A
New History of the Western World and Of The People, By The People,
A New History of Democracy.
Roger Osborne is also a professional playwright. His plays include
The Art Of Persuasion, first performed in 2011 and Laughton, staged
in 2013 He lives in Scarborough.
The book is a brilliant example of authorial brevity, the writing
neither hurried nor baldly functional
*BBC History Magazine*
An immensely important book and an exhilarating read
*Literary Review*
It is a bold adventurer who proposes to survey the history of
Western civilization in a mere 500 pages, and not only to say
something fresh about many aspects of it, but to do so in a spirit
of perceptive scepticism that refuses to go along with standard
views and reflex valuations. Roger Osborne offers himself this
challenge and meets it brilliantly
*Independent on Sunday*
Roger Osborne's absorbing blockbuster... is an admirable
achievement: a coherent narrative that gallops from the painting of
the Lascaux buffalo to the cloning of Dolly the Sheep, from the
Beaker people to the McDonald's people, in fewer than 500 crisply
written pages
*Independent*
Urgent, compelling, breathtaking in scope, Osborne's Civilization
confronts the vital question of our time
*John Carey*
The book is a brilliant example of authorial brevity, the writing
neither hurried nor baldly functional -- Edward Vallance * BBC
History Magazine *
An immensely important book and an exhilarating read -- Gregor
Dallas * Literary Review *
It is a bold adventurer who proposes to survey the history of
Western civilization in a mere 500 pages, and not only to say
something fresh about many aspects of it, but to do so in a spirit
of perceptive scepticism that refuses to go along with standard
views and reflex valuations. Roger Osborne offers himself this
challenge and meets it brilliantly -- A.C. Grayling * Independent
on Sunday *
Roger Osborne's absorbing blockbuster... is an admirable
achievement: a coherent narrative that gallops from the painting of
the Lascaux buffalo to the cloning of Dolly the Sheep, from the
Beaker people to the McDonald's people, in fewer than 500 crisply
written pages -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
Urgent, compelling, breathtaking in scope, Osborne's
Civilization confronts the vital question of our time --
John Carey
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