The Histories

Description

One of the great books in Western history and the very first work of non-fiction, in Tom Holland's compelling new translation The Histories of Herodotus, completed in the second half of the 5th century BC, is generally regarded as the first work of history and the first great masterpiece of non-fiction writing. Joined here are the sheer drama of Herodotus' narrative of the Persian invasions of Greece, and the endless curiosity - turning now to cannabis, now to the Pyramids - which make his book the source of so much of our knowledge of the ancient world. This absorbing new translation, by one of Britain's most admired young historians, allows all the drama and mysteriousness of this great book to be fully appreciated by modern readers.

Tom Holland is the best-selling author of Rubicon, which won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, Persian Fire, Millenium and most recently In the Shadow of the Sword. His translation of Herodotus's Histories was published by Penguin Classics in 2013.

Holland's text makes for energizing reading . . . unquestionably the best English translation of Herodotus to have appeared in the last half-century . . . fast, funny, opinionated, clear and erudite . . . I am in awe of Tom Holland's achievement -- Edith Hall * TLS * Tom Holland has been captivated by Herodotus since he was a child. His pleasure shines through his relaxed, idiomatic, expansive and often dramatic translation . . . He, like Herodotus, is a storyteller par excellence -- Peter Jones * New Statesman * A labour of love . . . full of rattling good yarns . . . the minister for education should present each of his cabinet colleagues with a copy of Holland's admirable translation * Economist *