Michael Wood

Inspired in his leadership, fearless in battle, and boundless in his ambition, Alexander the Great inherited his father's empire at the age of 20 and resolved to expand it. By the time of his death at 32, his empire covered most of the known world - from Greece to India - and comprised 2 million square miles. His achievement was - and remains - unparalleled. He was worshipped as a god in his lifetime and his legend has only grown with time. A chronological selection of extracts taken from Arrian's The Campaigns of Alexander, Plutarch's The Age of Alexander, Quintus Curtus Rufus's History of Alexander.

Alexandrosz, azaz Nagy Sándor expedíciója az ismert világ nagy részének meghódítására a bátorság és a kegyetlenség, a kitartás és a kicsapongás, a lovagiasság és a kapzsiság története. Kétezer-háromszáz évvel Alexandrosz ázsiai hadjárata után Michael Wood történész arra vállalkozott, hogy eredeti, ókori forrásokat használva végigjárja a titokzatos és kegyetlen, eposzba illő hódító hadjáratot, és az olvasóval is megosztja tapasztalatait. Málhás lovakkal, öszvérháton, vitorlás hajón, vonattal és gyalog, alkalmanként a banditák ellen fegyveres kísérettel sivatagokon, hegyláncokon, folyókon, síkságokon kel át. Találkozik libanoni kereskedőkkel, iráni zarándokokkal, afgán gerillákkal, és Alexandrosz történeteit teheráni kávéházakban regélő mesemondóval. Saját utazásának történetét Alexandrosz hadjáratának krónikájával elegyítve Wood "szellemidéző" stílusa nyomán kibontakozik előttünk, miért foglal el még mindig kiemelkedő helyet ez a legendás király képzeletünkben, miért szólnak róla ennyi idő elteltével is hollywoodi filmek.

'I have always been ridiculous, and I have known it, perhaps from the hour I was born' A man goes mad because he is happy. A civil servant behaves like a monster at a wedding-party. A man is swallowed by a crocodile, but not eaten nor seriously damaged. Dostoevsky's stories inhabit similarly volcanic atmospheres as his novels, places of curiosity and exception. They resemble jokes and anecdotes, told by volatile, voluble, morbidly sensitive and frustrated characters. These narrators all have a tendency to express themselves in crescendos of conflicting emotions, while the stories themselves steer clear of grand conclusions. Michael Wood's selection of Dostoevsky's shorter works is drawn from the timeless translations of Constance Garnett whose work, he says in his preface, gives readers the best of several worlds.

Ötezer évvel ezelőtt megkezdődött az emberi történelem legjelentősebb forradalma. Először Mezopotámiában, majd Egyiptomban, Indiában, Kínában és Amerikában is létrejött a városi létforma. Az emberiség legnagyobb részének életét még ma is ezeknek az ősi civilizációknak az eszményei vezérlik. A könyv számos zavarba ejtő kérdést vet fel. Mi is a civilizáció? Vajon ugyanazt jelentette a kínaiak, az indiaiak és a görögök számára? Mire taníthatnak bennünket ezen ősi kultúrák értékei manapság? S a Nyugat eszményei egyetemes érvényűek-e Lenyűgöző történelmi vizsgálódásai során a szerző áttekinti az ősi kultúrákat, meghatározza az alapvető jellemvonásaikat és máig ható örökségüket

Trója története és hősei évezredek óta kultúránk fontos részét képezik. Akhilleusz és Hektór, Parisz és a híres szépség, Helené a képzőművészet és az irodalom kedvelt figurái közé tartoznak. Vajon ezek a hősök valós személyek voltak? Trója ostroma valóban megtörtént vagy csupán kitaláció? A szerző összefoglalja a Trójával kapcsolatos kutatások legújabb drámai fejleményeit. Szerteágazó tanulmánya elemzi az összes régészeti felfedezést, irodalmi vonatkozást és történelmi tényt, amely napjainkig a téma kapcsán összegyűlt. Részletesen foglalkozik a Moszkvából előkerült, "Helené ékszerei" néven ismeretes leletekkel, valamint a trójai régészeti lelőhely újra feltárásával, melyek egyre több bizonyítékot szolgáltatnak a történelem és a legendák kapcsolatáról. A könyv új és egyéni nézőpontból elemzi a régészet legnagyobb felfedezéseinek egyikét.

China's story is extraordinarily rich and dramatic. Now Michael Wood, one of the UK's pre-eminent historians, brings it all together in a major new one-volume history of China that is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand its burgeoning role in our world today. China is the oldest living civilisation on earth, but its history is still surprisingly little known in the wider world. Michael Wood's sparkling narrative, which mingles the grand sweep with local and personal stories, woven together with the author's own travel journals, is an enthralling account of China's 4000-year-old tradition, taking in life stationed on the Great Wall or inside the Forbidden City. The story is enriched with the latest archaeological and documentary discoveries; correspondence and court cases going back to the Qin and Han dynasties; family letters from soldiers in the real-life Terracotta Army; stories from Silk Road merchants and Buddhist travellers, along with memoirs and diaries of emperors, poets and peasants. In the modern era, the book is full of new insights, with the electrifying manifestos of the feminist revolutionaries Qiu Jin and He Zhen, extraordinary eye-witness accounts of the Japanese invasion, the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao, and fascinating newly published sources for the great turning points in China's modern history, including the Tiananmen Square crisis of 1989, and the new order of President Xi Jinping. A compelling portrait of a single civilisation over an immense period of time, the book is full of intimate detail and colourful voices, taking us from the desolate Mongolian steppes to the ultra-modern world of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It also asks what were the forces that have kept China together for so long? Why was China overtaken by the west after the 18th century? What lies behind China's extraordinary rise today? The Story of China tells a thrilling story of intense drama, fabulous creativity and deep humanity; a portrait of a country that will be of the greatest importance to the world in the twenty-first century.

China's story is extraordinarily rich and dramatic. Now Michael Wood, one of the UK's pre-eminent historians, brings it all together in a major new one-volume history of China that is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand its burgeoning role in our world today. China is the oldest living civilisation on earth, but its history is still surprisingly little known in the wider world. Michael Wood's sparkling narrative, which mingles the grand sweep with local and personal stories, woven together with the author's own travel journals, is an enthralling account of China's 4000-year-old tradition, taking in life stationed on the Great Wall or inside the Forbidden City. The story is enriched with the latest archaeological and documentary discoveries; correspondence and court cases going back to the Qin and Han dynasties; family letters from soldiers in the real-life Terracotta Army; stories from Silk Road merchants and Buddhist travellers, along with memoirs and diaries of emperors, poets and peasants. In the modern era, the book is full of new insights, with the electrifying manifestos of the feminist revolutionaries Qiu Jin and He Zhen, extraordinary eye-witness accounts of the Japanese invasion, the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao, and fascinating newly published sources for the great turning points in China's modern history, including the Tiananmen Square crisis of 1989, and the new order of President Xi Jinping. A compelling portrait of a single civilisation over an immense period of time, the book is full of intimate detail and colourful voices, taking us from the desolate Mongolian steppes to the ultra-modern world of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It also asks what were the forces that have kept China together for so long? Why was China overtaken by the west after the 18th century? What lies behind China's extraordinary rise today? The Story of China tells a thrilling story of intense drama, fabulous creativity and deep humanity; a portrait of a country that will be of the greatest importance to the world in the twenty-first century. 'A learned, wise, wonderfully written single volume history of a civilisation that I knew I should know more about' Tom Holland 'Masterful and engrossing...well-paced, eminently readable and well-timed. A must-read for those who want - and need - to know about the China of yesterday, today and tomorrow' Peter Frankopan

In Search of the Dark Ages is an unrivalled exploration of the origins of English identity, and the bestselling book that established Michael Wood as one of Britain's leading historians. Now, on the book's 40th anniversary, this fully revised and expanded edition illuminates further the fascinating and mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest. Alongside portraits of Boadicea, King Arthur, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, and William the Conqueror, the story of England is expanded further to include new voices, with all-new chapters on fascinating characters such as Penda of Mercia, Aethelflaed Lady of the Mercians, Hadrian the African, Eadgyth of England, and Wynflaed. It's an altogether richer, more varied, and inclusive study on the creation of Britain. Just as it did when it first published 40 years ago, In Search of the Dark Ages overturns preconceptions of the Early Middle Ages as a shadowy and brutal era, showing them to be a richly exciting and formative period in the history of Britain.