Millennium

From Religion to Revolution: How Civilization Has Changed Over a Thousand Years

Ian Mortimer

History’s greatest tour guide, Ian Mortimer, takes us on an eye-opening and expansive journey through the last millennium of human innovation.

In Millennium, bestselling historian Ian Mortimer takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the last ten centuries of Western history. It is a journey into a past vividly brought to life and bursting with ideas, that pits one century against another in his quest to measure which century saw the greatest change.

We journey from a time when there was a fair chance of your village being burned to the ground by invaders—and dried human dung was a recommended cure for cancer—to a world in which explorers sailed into the unknown and civilizations came into conflict with each other on an epic scale. Here is a story of godly scientists, fearless adventurers, cold-hearted entrepreneurs, and strong-minded women—a story of discovery, invention, revolution, and cataclysmic shifts in perspective.

Millennium is a journey into the past like no other. Our understanding of human development will never be the same again, and the lessons we learn along the way are profound ones for us all.

Dr. Ian Mortimer has been described by the London Times as "the most remarkable medieval historian of our time." He is best known as the author of The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England, which was a London Sunday Times bestseller in 2010. Its follow-up, The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England, was a London Sunday Times bestseller in 2012. He was awarded the Alexander Prize by the Royal Historical Society for his work on the social history of medicine. Ian is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Please visit his website at www.ianmortimer.com.

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Endorsements & Reviews

"Terrific. One of the most bracing aspects of Millennium is the breadth of factors it covers. Mortimer describes the past with a vivid directness. But he's equally compelling about the future. A thrillingly clear-eyed assessment, a taking-stock of what the previous millennium might teach us about the ways we face major changes. Here's hoping some of the 21st-century's leaders read it and do some pausing of their own." Christian Science Monitor

"I loved this book. It will enable you to understand your past, your place in it and that of your ancestors as never before. A modern classic." The Mail on Sunday (Five Stars)

"Acclaimed British medievalist Mortimer (The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England) takes readers on a tour of the last thousand years. Mortimer’s intrinsic faith in human perseverance offers a glimmer of hope for the coming thousand years." Publishers Weekly

"An ambitious study of the last millennium." The Evening Standard

"Provocative and enjoyable. Almost every page of this engaging book sets your mind racing." The Sunday Times (London)

"Original and fascinating. Mortimer is an entertaining guide on this superb time-travel journey of human innovations It is a planetary ride which Mortimer offers us in his tour of ten centuries. It is exhilarating to time-travel with him." The Daily Mail (Book of the Week)