Ian Morris

In the middle of the eighteenth century, British entrepreneurs harnessed the transformative energies of steam and coal, catalysing an era of profound change. This industrial revolution marked the beginning of a new epoch, with factories, railways, and gunboats driving the West's ascendancy to global power. The twentieth century saw the West consolidate its dominance with the advent of computers and...

Ian Morris has established himself as a leader in making big history interesting and understandable – Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel Morris succeeds triumphantly at cramming 10,000 years of history into a single book – Robert Colvile, Times Geography is Destiny tells the history of Britain and its changing relationships with Europe and the wider world, from...

Most people in the world today think democracy and gender equality are good, and that violence and wealth inequality are bad. However, most people who lived during the 10,000 years before the nineteenth century thought just the opposite. Drawing on archaeology, anthropology, biology, and history, Ian Morris explains why. Fundamental long-term changes in values, Morris argues, are driven by the...

The Iliad is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, for which Barry Powell, one of the twenty-first century’s leading Homeric scholars, has given us a magnificent new translation. Graceful, lucid, and energetic, Powell’s translation renders the Homeric Greek with a simplicity and dignity reminiscent of the original. The text immediately engrosses students with its tight and balanced...

War: What is it good for? by Ian Morris delves into the complex and controversial topic of warfare and its profound impact on human history. Through thorough exploration, the book navigates the paradox of war as both a destructive force and a tool for progress. Morris presents a compelling narrative that spans millennia, analysing the ironic relationship between conflict and...