Book description
When we think of great events in the history of the world, we tend to
think of war, revolution, political upheaval or natural catastrophe. But
throughout history there have been moments of vital importance that have
taken place not on the battlefield, or in the palaces of power, or even
in the violence of nature, but between the pages of a book.
In our digitised age of instant information it is easy to underestimate
the power of the printed word. In his fascinating new book accompanying
the ITV series, Melvyn Bragg presents a vivid reminder of the book as
agent of social, political and personal revolution. Twelve Books that
Changed the World presents a rich variety of human endeavour and a great
diversity of characters. There are also surprises. Here are famous books
by Darwin, Newton and Shakespeare - but we also discover the stories
behind some less well-known works, such as Marie Stopes' Married Love,
the original radical feminist Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman - and even the rules to an obscure ball game that became
the most popular sport in the world . . . Melvyn Bragg's first novel,
FOR WANT OF A NAIL, was published in 1965 and since then his novels have
included THE HIRED MAN, for which he won the Time/Life Silver Pen Award,
WITHOUT A CITY WALL, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, CREDO, THE
MAID OF BUTTERMERE and THE SOLDIER'S RETURN, which was published to huge
critical acclaim in 1999 and won the WHSmith Literary Award. He has also
written several works of non-fiction including SPEAK FOR ENGLAND, an
oral history of the twentieth century, RICH, a biography of Richard
Burton, ON GIANTS' SHOULDERS, a history of science based on his BBC
radio series, THE ADVENTURE OF ENGLISH, 12 BOOKS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD,
IN OUR TIME and THE SOUTH BANK SHOW: FINAL CUT. He was born in 1939 and
educated at Wigton's Nelson Thomlinson School and at Oxford where he
read history. He is President of the National Campaign for the Arts, and
in 1998 he was made a life peer. He won an Academy Fellowship at the
BAFTA Television Awards in 2010.
