Dan Jones's epic new history tells nothing less than the story of how the world we know today came to be built.
Dan Jones is a historian, broadcaster and award-winning journalist. His books, including The Plantagenets, Magna Carta, The Templars and The Colour of Time (with Marina Amaral), have sold more than one million copies worldwide. He has written and hosted dozens of TV shows including the acclaimed Netflix/Channel 5 series, Secrets of Great British Castles. His writing has appeared in newspapers and magazines including the London Evening Standard, the Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, GQ and The Spectator.
A terrifically colourful and compelling narrative history... A
hugely impressive achievement, bustling and sizzling with life on
every page... This is now simply the best popular history of the
Middle Ages there is' * Sunday Times *
Excellent... Combines [Jones's] usual narrative exuberance and
playfulness with the authority and span to bring together an
amazing masterly gripping panorama' -- Simon Sebag Montefiore
Empires come and go, religions form and break up, ideas clash and
mingle - 1,100 years, 16 sweeping chapters, 700 pacey pages...
Masterly, muscular and direct' -- Ed Smith, New Statesman, Books of
the Year
A badass history writer... to put it mildly -- Duff McKagan
A great achievement, pulling together many strands with aplomb --
Peter Frankopan, Spectator, Books of the Year
An audacious, entertaining page-turner. Dan Jones covers a thousand
years of history with elegance and panache -- Dan Carlin, Hardcore
History
Dan Jones is in a class of his own... Read this book to wrap your
head around 1,000 years of history with as much ease and enjoyment
as relaxing into a good novel' -- Professor Suzannah Lipscomb
Jones is careful to entertain, as well as enlighten... Flashes of
humour exist on the same page as academic rigour... Copious colour
plates turn Powers and Thrones into a great gift, as well as
a great read' * Aspects of History *
An epic new history of the Middle Ages, which grippingly chronicles
the forces that defined the period - and which would go on to shape
ours * Huffington Post *
This gripping history manages to bring novelty to a well-trod
subject, spanning the Dark Ages and the globe. Traversing crises
and empires and shedding new light on famous subjects, this archive
of a fascinating time enthralls till the final page * Newsweek
Magazine *
I've never read such a comprehensive and storming history of the
Middle Ages, nor am I ever likely to again. Crusaders swept
me away, but this? This is electric: pumping energy into an era
glossed over... Literally, I was in tears at the end; I didn't want
the storytelling to end' -- David Learner (Toppings Booksellers,
Ely)
A rip-roaring read and exhilarating to the very end * International
Times *
Casts a new light on places such as Rome, Paris, Venice and
Constantinople; and it features some of history's most notorious
and famous men and women * Bexhill-on-Sea Observer *
Despite the sweeping subject matter, Jones's reading feels relaxed
as he delights in peculiar details and revels in witty asides...
[darting] through the middle ages, from the Romans to the rise of
Islamic empires' * Guardian *
With his trademark narrative style, Dan Jones packs the thousand
years between the fall of the Roman Empire [...] and the protestant
Reformation into 16 chapters * Choice *
From Rome to Paris, Venice to Constantinople, this gripping
historical narrative touches on some of history's most famous and
notorious men and women, while asking exactly how the West came to
be the way it is. And you thought the perfect dad gift didn't exist
* Stylist *
Tells the story of an essential era of world history with skill and
style * New York Times *
Ambitious but brilliant * Catholic Herald *
It's so delightful to encounter a skilled historian of such
enormous energy who's never afraid of being entertaining * The
Times, 21 best history books of 2021 *
Mr Jones has a way of keeping things real -- Tessa Dunlop, Aspects
of History
Dan Jones is a brilliant storyteller. He keeps his hand on the
tiller on this marathon voyage, guiding the reader with matchless
dexterity. A triumph -- Charles Spencer, Aspects of History
It is as gripping as all his books -- Barney White-Spunner, Aspects
of History
Jones is that rarity, a scholar with a novelist's feel for pace and
drama, and this reads more like a thriller than a sober historical
account * Tablet *
In an age when medieval culture is easily and explicitly repurposed
for ill, we are lucky to have a book that insists on portraying
Europe's deep connections with other parts of the world and that
wants to rehydrate the Middle Ages back from the flat, racist
version. We are luckier still to have a book that narrates the past
so thoroughly, vividly and joyfully * Independent *
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