This spectacular book is the first single volume to tell the story of the library as a distinct building type, all around the world. Throughout the ages, book c

LONGLISTED FOR THE HISTORICAL WRITERS' ASSOCIATION NON-FICTION CROWN A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A sweeping, absorbing history, deeply researched, of that

The circulation of books was the motor of classical civilization. However, books were both expensive and rare, and so libraries - private and public, royal and

"Splendidly articulate, informative and provoking....A book to be savored and gone back to."—Baltimore Sun On the survival and destruction of knowledge, from

What happened to the Roman Empire? Why was the Magna Carta so important? What led to the First World War? Why did the USSR collapse? World History in Minutes pr