Written in History
Letters that Changed the World
Published on 25. October 2018
Audio
CD-Audio
978-1-4091-8119-4 (ISBN)
Description
WRITTEN IN HISTORY: LETTERS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD celebrates the letter in world history and personal life. Acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore selects letters that have changed the course of global events or touched a timeless emotion - whether passion, rage, humour - from ancient times to the twentieth century: some are noble and inspiring, some despicable and unsettling, some are exquisite works of literature, others brutal and coarse. From love letters to declarations of war, ranging from Elizabeth I to Stalin, Marcus Aurelius to Machiavelli, Oscar Wilde to Balzac, Rameses the Great to Gandhi, Montefiore explores the significance of each piece of correspondence and shows how letters can reveal the personalities of some of history's most fascinating figures, and in turn offer a unique perspective on the past and a relevance for today. These are letters everyone should read.
(p) Orion Publishing Group 2018
(p) Orion Publishing Group 2018
Reviews / Votes
Spicy, horrifying, passionate, shocking...and very moving. Fascinating! If you loved Ernst Gombrich's A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE WORLD and are in the mood for another global history from a different angle, this collection of historically significant letters through the ages compiled by Simon Sebag Montefiore might well hit the spot...he has distilled a few millennia of world history into 240 extremely un-boring pages * THE TIMES * Entertaining and enlightening . . . Some [letters] are truly revolutionary and visionary . . . Others are very personal . . . but all are fascinating, as are the compiler's comments on each letter, little gems of history in their own right * DAILY MAIL, History Books of the Year * WRITTEN IN HISTORY is a search through the millennia, the result an astonishing array: all human life is here encapsulated, in just a few paragraphs or even just a sentence; all are surprising, and mostly unfamiliar...Everything here is a revelatory marvel, whether a hideous rant from the Marquis de Sade (1783), or the impassioned logic of religious tolerance from Babur to his son Hamayun (1529). Truly the spectrum of human belief and behaviour is revealed in this selection * THE ARTS DESK * What sets this book apart from others about great historical correspondence is the author. The esteemed historian's selections, written in settings as far-flung as Ancient Egypt, Renaissance Italy and Stalin's Russia, go some way to illustrate how adaptable the medium of letter writing can be, and his commentary reveals just why they are still important today * HISTORY REVEALED * Lip-smackingly sexy ... Written in History is a cornucopia of emotion. Not all the letters changed the world for everyone. But they all changed the world for someone. -- Josephine Fenton * IRISH EXAMINER *More details
Edition
Unabridged edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Edition type
Unabridged edition
Product notice
Audio CD
Dimensions
Height: 140 mm
Width: 138 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Duration
Dauer: 360 min
Weight
160 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4091-8119-4 (9781409181194)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
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. Juliet Stevenson is one of Britain's leading actors. She has worked extensively for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Royal Court, winning an Olivier award for her performance as Paulina in Death and The Maiden in 1991. Most recently she starred in Beckett's Happy Days at The Young Vic to huge critical acclaim, which due to popular demand returned for a second run. Her films include Truly, Madly, Deeply; Bend it Like Beckham; When Did You Last See Your Father?; Being Julia; Pierrepoint; Mona Lisa Smile; Diana and Departure. Recent television work includes her starring role in Sky Living's supernatural thriller The Enfield Haunting and series regulars on two series of Atlantis and The Village. Other television work includes Place of Execution, The Accused, The Hour, and White Heat. Juliet has recently wrapped on upcoming BBC thriller 'One of Us' and is currently filming Let Me Go.
She was awarded the CBE in 1999.
Rupert Penry-Jones played Piers du Pre in HILARY AND JACKIE and Donald Maclean in CAMBRIDGE SPIES (alongside another Orin audiobooks reader, Samuel West). He has appeared in television as diverse as POIROT, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, COLD COMFORT FARM and JANE EYRE, and other films include CHARLOTTE GRAY and THE FOUR FEATHERS. He played an acclaimed Valmont in LIAISONS DANGEREUSES at the Bristol Old Vic, and other stage parts Simon Russell Beale was educated at St Pauls Cathedral Choir School and Clifton College in Bristol. After graduating with a first in English at Cambridge University he began training as an opera singer before he turned to acting. He started his theatrical career at The Royal Court, and went on to the Royal Shakespeare Company for eight years. Since then, he has spent twenty years at The National Theatre, performed all over the world, and appeared in award winning TV and film. In 2003 he was appointed a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for his services to the Arts. 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. In 2016 Tuppence Middleton starred in WAR AND PEACE alongside Gillian Anderson, Jim
Broadbent and Lily James. Tuppence also starred in BBC's DICKENSIAN, a 20-part series based
around iconic, Charles Dickens characters. Tuppence played young Amelia Havisham.
Tuppence appeared in Bharat Nalluri's SPOOKS: THE GREATER GOOD opposite Kit Harrington
as well as the Wachowski's Netflix series, SENSE8, which has been renewed for a second season
and is due to be released on 5th May this year.
Tuppence's other credits include the Wachowski's JUPITER ASCENDING and the award-winning
THE IMITATION GAME, where she appeared alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira
Knightley.
Other credits include the BBC One adaptation of the Hitchcock classic THE LADY VANISHES,
Iain Softley's TRAP FOR CINDERELLA and Joel Hopkin's LOVE PUNCH with Pierce Brosnan,
Emma Thompson and Timothy Spall. Tuppence also appeared in A LONG WAY DOWN opposite
Rosamund Pike, Aaron Paul and Toni Collete, and Danny Boyle's TRANCE with James McAvoy
and Rosario Dawson.
In December 2016 Tuppence started filming THE CURRENT WAR, an American biographical
historical drama directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. It focuses on the competition between
electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse was released on 22nd December
2017. Starring alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, Nicholas Hoult and Tom Holland, Tuppence will
played Mary Edison.
Last year, Tuppence starred in Phillip K. Dick's ELECTRIC DREAMS, an anthology series of ten
epic, ambitious and moving standalone episodes, each set in a different and unique world - some
which lie in the far reaches of the universe and others which are much closer to home. Each
episode is inspired by one of Philip K. Dick's renowned shorts stories and has been adapted by an
exciting list of leading British and American writers and directors, including Ronald D. Moore,
Michael Dinner and Bryan Cranston. Tuppence stars alongside Timothy Spall, Anne Reid, Ann
Akin, and Hayley Squires. The show was commissioned by Channel 4 in the UK and picked up
by Amazon for the U.S.
Most recently, Tuppence took to the stage of the Soho Theatre with Vicky Jones' "astounding and
astonishing" (Telegraph) THE ONE. Tuppence stared as her character Jo, alongside John
Hopkins - Harry, a couple trapped in a destructive and violent cycle of love and lust. Later this
year, Tuppence will be joined by Daniel Mays, David Hayman and Dave Johns in Cornwall-shot
feature film FISHERMAN'S FRIENDS. Inspired by the true story of the male singing group
Fisherman's Friends, who went from performing in their village harbour to securing a deal with
Island Records, a top-ten album and performing on the pyramid stage at Glastonbury.
It has recently been announced that Tuppence will be joining the all-star cast of the upcoming
DOWNTON ABBEY movie.
She was awarded the CBE in 1999.
Rupert Penry-Jones played Piers du Pre in HILARY AND JACKIE and Donald Maclean in CAMBRIDGE SPIES (alongside another Orin audiobooks reader, Samuel West). He has appeared in television as diverse as POIROT, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, COLD COMFORT FARM and JANE EYRE, and other films include CHARLOTTE GRAY and THE FOUR FEATHERS. He played an acclaimed Valmont in LIAISONS DANGEREUSES at the Bristol Old Vic, and other stage parts Simon Russell Beale was educated at St Pauls Cathedral Choir School and Clifton College in Bristol. After graduating with a first in English at Cambridge University he began training as an opera singer before he turned to acting. He started his theatrical career at The Royal Court, and went on to the Royal Shakespeare Company for eight years. Since then, he has spent twenty years at The National Theatre, performed all over the world, and appeared in award winning TV and film. In 2003 he was appointed a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for his services to the Arts. 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. In 2016 Tuppence Middleton starred in WAR AND PEACE alongside Gillian Anderson, Jim
Broadbent and Lily James. Tuppence also starred in BBC's DICKENSIAN, a 20-part series based
around iconic, Charles Dickens characters. Tuppence played young Amelia Havisham.
Tuppence appeared in Bharat Nalluri's SPOOKS: THE GREATER GOOD opposite Kit Harrington
as well as the Wachowski's Netflix series, SENSE8, which has been renewed for a second season
and is due to be released on 5th May this year.
Tuppence's other credits include the Wachowski's JUPITER ASCENDING and the award-winning
THE IMITATION GAME, where she appeared alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira
Knightley.
Other credits include the BBC One adaptation of the Hitchcock classic THE LADY VANISHES,
Iain Softley's TRAP FOR CINDERELLA and Joel Hopkin's LOVE PUNCH with Pierce Brosnan,
Emma Thompson and Timothy Spall. Tuppence also appeared in A LONG WAY DOWN opposite
Rosamund Pike, Aaron Paul and Toni Collete, and Danny Boyle's TRANCE with James McAvoy
and Rosario Dawson.
In December 2016 Tuppence started filming THE CURRENT WAR, an American biographical
historical drama directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. It focuses on the competition between
electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse was released on 22nd December
2017. Starring alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, Nicholas Hoult and Tom Holland, Tuppence will
played Mary Edison.
Last year, Tuppence starred in Phillip K. Dick's ELECTRIC DREAMS, an anthology series of ten
epic, ambitious and moving standalone episodes, each set in a different and unique world - some
which lie in the far reaches of the universe and others which are much closer to home. Each
episode is inspired by one of Philip K. Dick's renowned shorts stories and has been adapted by an
exciting list of leading British and American writers and directors, including Ronald D. Moore,
Michael Dinner and Bryan Cranston. Tuppence stars alongside Timothy Spall, Anne Reid, Ann
Akin, and Hayley Squires. The show was commissioned by Channel 4 in the UK and picked up
by Amazon for the U.S.
Most recently, Tuppence took to the stage of the Soho Theatre with Vicky Jones' "astounding and
astonishing" (Telegraph) THE ONE. Tuppence stared as her character Jo, alongside John
Hopkins - Harry, a couple trapped in a destructive and violent cycle of love and lust. Later this
year, Tuppence will be joined by Daniel Mays, David Hayman and Dave Johns in Cornwall-shot
feature film FISHERMAN'S FRIENDS. Inspired by the true story of the male singing group
Fisherman's Friends, who went from performing in their village harbour to securing a deal with
Island Records, a top-ten album and performing on the pyramid stage at Glastonbury.
It has recently been announced that Tuppence will be joining the all-star cast of the upcoming
DOWNTON ABBEY movie.