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 toget
An unusual and authoritative 'natural history of languages' that narrates the ways in which one language has superseded or outlasted another at different times
The story of the world in the last five thousand years is above all the story of its languages. Some shared language is what binds any community together and ma
What is the meaning of a word? Most readers turn to the dictionary for authoritative meanings and correct usage. But what is the source of authority in dictiona
Chronicles the life of nineteenth-century archaeologist and explorer Henry Rawlinson, describing his ascent of western Iran mountains, where he deciphered ancie