A History Of The World [Audio]

Rating

In 2010, the BBC and the British Museum embarked on an ambitious project: to tell the story of two million years of human history using one hundred objects selected from the Museum's vast and renowned collection. Presented by the British Museum's Director Neil MacGregor, each episode focuses on a single object - from a Stone Age tool to a solar-powered lamp - and explains its significance in human history. Music, interviews with specialists and quotations from written texts enrich the listener's experience. On each CD, objects from a similar period of history are grouped together to explore a common theme and make connections across the world. Seen in this way, history is a kaleidoscope: shifting, interlinked, constantly surprising and shaping our world in ways that most of us have never imagined. This box set also includes an illustrated booklet with additional background information and photographs, and each CD includes PDF images of the featured objects. 20 CDs. 25 hrs.

Promotional Information

The landmark BBC Radio 4 series that tells the story of humanity through 100 man-made objects from the British Museum's unique collection.

About the Author

THE PROGRAMME: A History of the World in 100 Objects was created in partnership between the BBC and the British Museum. The Radio 4 series was a narrative global history told through the British Museum's unparalleled world collection. It consisted of one hundred 15-minute programmes, each focusing on an object from the Museum's collection, written and narrated by Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum. He told the fascinating stories behind the chosen items and explored key developments in human history, highlighting often unexpected connections and universal themes. Each week's programmes were linked by a common theme, and objects were selected to cover a broad geographical range within a specific time period, telling a history of the world from two million years ago to the present day. For more information about BBC Radio 4 programmes, go to www.bbc.co.uk/radio4. For more information about the British Museum, visit www.britishmuseum.org.

Reviews

"a broadcasting phenomenon" -- Maev Kennedy * The Guardian * "perfect radio" -- Philip Hensher * The Independent * "deserves to take its place alongside television classics such as Kenneth Clark's Civilisation and Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man." -- Dominic Sandbrook * The Telegraph *