Book description
The currents of history run deep and often unseen beneath the everyday
ripple of events. But now and again the current rises to the surface,
and the events of a single day change the world for ever. Such events
are the subject of Days that Changed the World. Some of the fifty days
described here mark the end of an era; others the start of something
new. Many are the dates of bloody battles or murders; of momentous
decisions or breathtaking discoveries. All are remembered as powerful
symbols of their time whose legacy continues to reverberate around the
world. The book begins almost 2500 years ago on 28 September 480 BC,
when the Athenian navy destroyed the Persian invasion fleet in the Bay
of Salamis. Had the Persians won we might never have heard the names of
Plato, Aristotle or Alexander, nor recognize the word democracy. Taking
in the assassination of Julius Caesar, the fall of Constantinople, the
first day of the Somme, Nelson Mandela's release from prison and
concluding with 11 September 2001 and the destruction of New York's Twin
Towers, Days that Changed the World is a unique and fascinating way to
tell the story of world history. Hywel Williams is a renowned
historian, newspaper columnist, political advisor and TV presenter. He
is the author of the famous political exposé Guilty Men, Cassell's
Chronology of World History, Britain's Power Elites and Emperor of the
West.
