Vanished kingdoms : the rise and fall of states and nations

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Vanished kingdoms : the rise and fall of states and nations

Norman Davies

Viking, 2012, c2011

1st American ed

  • : hbk
  • : pbk

Available at  / 10 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780143122951

Description

From the bestselling author of Europe: A History comes a uniquely ambitious masterpiece that will thrill fans of lost civilizations While Germany, Italy, France, and England dominate our conceptions of Europe, these modern states are relatively recent constructs. In this brilliant work of historical reconstruction, Norman Davies brings back to life the long-forgotten empire of Aragon, which once controlled the Western Mediterranean; the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, once the largest country in Europe, and the Kingdom of the Rock, founded by ancient Britons when neither England nor Scotland existed. In the tradition of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, Davies subverts our established view of the past and urges us to reconsider the impetus for the rise and fall of nations.
Volume

: hbk ISBN 9780670022731

Description

An evocative account of fourteen European kingdoms-their rise, maturity, and eventual disappearance. There is something profoundly romantic about lost civilizations. Europe's past is littered with states and kingdoms, large and small, that are scarcely remembered today, and while their names may be unfamiliar-Aragon, Etruria, the Kingdom of the Two Burgundies-their stories should change our mental map of the past. We come across forgotten characters and famous ones-King Arthur and Macbeth, Napoleon and Queen Victoria, right up to Stalin and Gorbachev-and discover how faulty memory can be, and how much we can glean from these lost empires. Davies peers through the cracks in the mainstream accounts of modern-day states to dazzle us with extraordinary stories of barely remembered pasts, and of the traces they left behind.This is Norman Davies at his best: sweeping narrative history packed with unexpected insights. "Vanished Kingdoms" will appeal to all fans of unconventional and thought-provoking history, from readers of Niall Ferguson to Jared Diamond.

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