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Empires of the Word

A Language History of the World

By Nicholas Ostler

(6)

| Paperback | 9780060935726

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Book Description

Nicholas Ostler's Empires of the Word is the first history of the world's great tongues, gloriously celebrating the wonder of words that binds communities together and makes possible both the living of a common history and the telling of it. From the uncanny resilience of Chinese through Continue

Nicholas Ostler's Empires of the Word is the first history of the world's great tongues, gloriously celebrating the wonder of words that binds communities together and makes possible both the living of a common history and the telling of it. From the uncanny resilience of Chinese through twenty centuries of invasions to the engaging self-regard of Greek and to the struggles that gave birth to the languages of modern Europe, these epic achievements and more are brilliantly explored, as are the fascinating failures of once "universal" languages. A splendid, authoritative, and remarkable work, it demonstrates how the language history of the world eloquently reveals the real character of our planet's diverse peoples and prepares us for a linguistic future full of surprises.

Critics

  • Speaking of tongues

    Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler 615pp, HarperCollins, £30 There are many ways of recounting the history of the world - via the rise and fall of civilisations, the fortunes of nation states, socio-economic syste ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • Take my word for it

    Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler HarperCollins £30, pp624 This learned and entertaining book starts around 3,300BC and works forwards. Given that it's a short history of the last 5,000 years, it is remarkably co ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

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Book Details

  • Rating:
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  • English Books
  • Paperback 640 Pages
  • Edition: Reprint
  • ISBN-10: 0060935723
  • ISBN-13: 9780060935726
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial
  • Pub date: Jul 01, 2006
  • Dimensions: 1290 mm x 903 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
  • Also available as: Hardcover, Others and eBook
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9780060935726 Paperback $17.99 $15.38 bn.com
-- $12.99 ebooks.com
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