Centuries Of Change

The world has experienced many stupendous and sometimes horrifying changes, in each of the 10 centuries leading up to 2000AD. This erudite book tries to work out which one was most affected and comes up with an answer that most people would probably agree with.

The author, historian Ian Mortimer, wrote the bestselling guides to medieval and Elizabethan England a few years ago. Now we get a world guide over a much longer period, and it is sometimes less easy to read than the other two.

Chunks resemble a ponderous university thesis and judicious editing would have been beneficial. Fortunately, most of the book retains the Mortimer sparkle and his social history fans will find much to entertain and inform them.

Anyone depressed by the present state of the world will be reassured to read how the human race has overcome plagues and other cataclysms. Mortimer believes this ability to survive and adapt will continue, and reminds us that good things have often flowed out of disaster.

He points out, for instance, that Adolf Hitler was unintentionally the greatest agent for positive change in the latter half of the 20th century, because of the enormously positive technological and medical advances subsequently produced.