Powers And Thrones: A New History Of The Middle Ages

Dan Jones's epic new history tells the story of how the world we know today came to be built. It is a thousand-year adventure that moves from Rome, sacked by barbarians in AD 410, to the first contacts between the old and new worlds in the sixteenth century. It shows how, from a state of crisis and collapse, the West was rebuilt and came to dominate the entire globe. The book identifies three key themes that underpinned the success of the commerce, conquest and Christianity. Across 16 chapters, blending Dan Jones' narrative shows how, at each stage in this story, successive western powers thrived by attracting – or stealing – the most valuable resources, ideas and people from the rest of the world. It casts new light on iconic locations – Rome, Paris, Venice, Constantinople – and it features some of history's most famous and notorious men and women.