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Culture

The surprising connections and influences between civilisations. ‘Genius' - William Dalrymple

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Culture

By: Martin Puchner
Narrated by: John Sackville
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'A writer of genius' - William Dalrymple

Can anyone really own a culture? This magnificent account argues that the story of global civilisations is one of mixing, sharing, and borrowing.

It shows how art forms have crisscrossed continents over centuries to produce masterpieces. From Nefertiti's lost city and the Islamic Golden Age to twentieth century Nigerian theatre and Modernist poetry, Martin Puchner explores how contact between different peoples has driven artistic innovation in every era - whilst cultural policing and purism have more often undermined the very societies they tried to protect.

Travelling through Classical Greece, Ashoka's India, Tang dynasty China, and many other epochs, this triumphal new history reveals the crossing points which have not only inspired the humanities, but which have made us human. Anthropology Art Linguistics Literary History & Criticism Social Sciences Ancient History Imperialism Middle East China Middle Ages Africa
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Critic reviews

'A breakneck, utterly captivating survey of threads of cultural transmission-how ideas, stories, and songs-survive, change, vanish, get borrowed, refined, coopted, and grafted through time ... I underlined sentences on every page.' (Anthony Doerr)
'A remarkable book.' (Kwame Anthony Appiah)
'Martin Puchner has exceptional and invaluable gifts: intellectual fearlessness, dazzling erudition, trenchancy tempered by breadth of mind, and a humanist's eye for minute evidence that illumines huge problems.' (Felipe Fernandez-Armesto)
'Fearless and exhilaratingly erudite, Martin Puchner's panoramic tour of human culture across the millennia is a riveting page-turner.' (Amy Chua)
'A writer of genius' (William Dalrymple)
'Elegantly written and full of erudite lore, this vibrant history illuminates the inveterate human yearning for expression.'
'Compellingly written'
'A thoughtful, generous vision of human creativity across centuries of culture.'
'Fluent and engaging.' (Boyd Tonkin)
'A mighty, polymathic work . . . [by] a master storyteller (Chris Vognar)
All stars
Most relevant
This book spans all of human history and dies so by telling key stories of cross-cultural fertilisation and exemplary significance. In doing so it unearths many little known facts and creates a compelling narrative that puts our own cultural moment into stark relief. The author's style is very engaging and marshals huge amounts of information. It's an exemplary book for our blighted times. I'm now a Puchner fan!

Exceptional!

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This is a broad and sweeping survey of cultural history from times and places far and near. I really loved the way Puchner zoomed in on individuals and their works to take me out of the breadth and into the specifics. I loved this book! (Have bought a print copy also.)

Thoroughly absorbing

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