The World: A Family History

 
　　從九十五萬年前一個家庭在海岸邊留下的腳印為起點，享譽全球的暢銷書作家賽門．蒙提費歐里，這次將從「家」的角度，帶領讀者踏上一場史詩級的旅程，從凱薩、梅迪奇、波拿巴、哈布斯堡、邱吉爾、甘迺迪、尼赫魯等影響了世界的家族，訴說一個不同以往的世界史。
 
　　聚集歷史上最知名的領導人，與眾多較不為人知、卻深深影響了全世界的人物，蒙提費歐里打破傳統以男性為主的敘事角度，從「家庭」這個貼近更多讀者的題目切入，帶來這部著作橫跨廣闊時間、地理、文化維度的著作，將戰爭、疫病、信仰、科技等主題與重要人物的故事相連結，帶來如小說一般迷人的歷史作品。(文/博客來編譯)

　　From the master storyteller and internationally bestselling author - the story of humanity from prehistory to the present day, told through the one thing all humans have in common: family.

　　We begin with the footsteps of a family walking along a beach 950,000 years ago. From here, Montefiore takes us on an exhilarating epic journey through the families that have shaped our world: the Caesars, Medicis and Incas, Ottomans and Mughals, Bonapartes, Habsburgs and Zulus, Rothschilds, Rockefellers and Krupps, Churchills, Kennedys, Castros, Nehrus, Pahlavis and Kenyattas, Saudis, Kims and Assads.

　　A rich cast of complex characters form the beating heart of the story. Some are well-known leaders, from Alexander the Great, Attila, Ivan the Terrible and Genghis Khan to Hitler, Thatcher, Obama, Putin and Zelensky. Some are creative, from Socrates, Michelangelo and Shakespeare to Newton, Mozart, Balzac, Freud, Bowie and Tim Berners-Lee.

　　Others are lesser-known: Hongwu, who began life as a beggar and founded the Ming dynasty; Kamehameha, conqueror of Hawaii; Zenobia, Arab empress who defied Rome; King Henry of Haiti; Lady Murasaki, first female novelist; Sayyida al-Hurra, Moroccan pirate-queen. Here are not just conquerors and queens but prophets, charlatans, actors, gangsters, artists, scientists, doctors, tycoons, lovers, wives, husbands and children.
This is world history on the most grand and intimate scale - spanning centuries, continents and cultures, and linking grand themes of war, migration, plague, religion, medicine and technology to the people at the centre of the human drama.

　　As spellbinding as fiction, The World captures the story of humankind in all its joy, sorrow, romance, ingenuity and cruelty in a ground-breaking, single narrative that will forever shift the boundaries of what history can achieve.