Author:Lewis Dartnell
'Illuminating' TIM MARSHALL, bestselling author of The Future of Geography
'Refreshing' THOMAS HALLIDAY, bestselling author of Otherlands
Our biology will change how you see the world. Lewis Dartnell exploreshow human biology has shaped relationships, societies, economies and wars across the globe
How did haemophilia bring down the Russian royal family? And scurvy give rise to the Mafia?
We are a wonder of evolution. Our exceptional abilities created life as we know it, but we're also deeply flawed. This extraordinary contradiction between our faculties and frailties is the essence of what it means to be human. And history has played out in the balance between them.
Here, Lewis Dartnell tells our story through the lens of this uniquely fragile nature for the first time. From cognitive biases to endemic diseases, he explores how human biology has shaped relationships, societies, economies and wars across the globe - and considers how, importantly, it continues to challenge and define our progress.
'A gripping, red-blooded narrative from a master storyteller' JO MARCHANT, author of Cure
'A wild ride' TIM HARFORD, author of How to Make the World Add Up
Always an interesting and engaging writer, Dartnell ... finds fascinating nuggets in familiar stories
—— GuardianI’ve always liked Dartnell’s books for their factiness
—— Sunday TimesAn illuminating journey through history using our bodies as the vehicle. It's quite a ride!
—— Tim Marshall, author of Prisoners of GeographyWide-ranging, comprehensive and refreshing
—— Thomas Halliday, author of OtherlandsA wild ride through science, history and prehistory, full of unexpected connections and delightful insights
—— Tim Harford, author of How to Make the World Add UpA revolutionary account of human progress. This is history as you've never read it before: a gripping, red-blooded narrative from a master storyteller
—— Jo Marchant, author of The Human CosmosA sublime, mind-expanding exploration of who we are and how we got here
—— Richard Fisher, author of The Long ViewBrilliantly entertaining and beautifully written, Being Human forces you to see the world in a totally new way. Interdisciplinary history at its best
—— Jonathan Kennedy, author of PathogenesisA spirited canter through the ways our biology has inescapably affected world history that'll open your eyes and stretch your mind
—— Henry Gee, author of A (Very) Short History of Life on EarthBursting with scientific stories, this is a fascinating exploration of how our flawed biology shapes how we live, love, thrive and die. Being Human will make you think in a new light about yourself and your species
—— Kat Arney, author of Rebel CellA brilliant, super-informative and enjoyable read
—— Dr Camilla Pang, author of Explaining HumansLewis Dartnell has a well-deserved reputation for engaging writing on big themes. Being Human is so engrossing that it's hard to put down
—— Martin Rees, author of If Science is To Save UsDartnell has done it again. Full of surprising, vivid and profound lessons, this book is quite literally wonderful
—— Ed Conway, author of Material World[A] revealing survey ... Biology determines more than personal destiny
—— New Statesman[A] fascinating lucky dip of a book
—— Mail on SundayAn utterly compelling account, deeply personal, persuasively authoritative, surely the must-read book for this challenging moment
—— Philippe Sands, author of East West StreetFor those trying to understand the roots of the war in Ukraine, there is no better guide than Serhii Plokhy. It's impossible to make sense of the Russian invasion of 2022 without knowing something of the history - recent and less recent - and the struggle for Ukrainian national identity; this compelling and lucid book illuminates both
—— Lindsey Hilsum, author of In ExtremisThe essential book for the Russia-Ukraine war - superb, accessible and erudite - by the world's chief expert. The must-read work
—— Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World: A Family HistoryThe thread of history is central to understanding Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Serhii Plokhy outlines this in fascinating detail and reminds us of the constant fragility of peace
—— David LammyThree hundred-odd pages roam through 50,000 years, and by the last it's almost impossible to disagree that infectious diseases are our permanent companion and ultimate adversary... The fluency of Kennedy's narration is remarkable, weaving Tolkien, Game of Thrones and Monty Python into memorable and accessible explanations of genetics, evolutionary biology and demography... Pathogenesis is a humbling story for humankind.
—— Kate Womersley , SpectatorA superb achievement ... a lucid, totally compulsive read from beginning to end, chilling as well as profoundly empathetic in tone
—— Mick Jackson, director of ThreadsUtterly brilliant. This gripping account of East Germany sheds new light on what for many of us remains an opaque chapter of history. Authoritative, lively and profoundly human, it is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand post-WW2 Europe
—— Julia BoydA gripping and nuanced history of the GDR from its beginnings as a separate German socialist state against the wishes of Stalin to its final rapprochement with its Western other against those of Gorbachev. Beyond the Wall is a unique fresco of everyday reality in East Germany. Elegantly moving between diplomatic history, political economy and cultural analysis, this is an essential read to understand not only the life and death of the GDR but also the parts of it that still survive in the emotions of its former citizens.
—— Lea YpiSuperb, totally fascinating and compelling, Katja Hoyer's first full history of East Germany's rise and fall is a work of revelatory original research - and a gripping read with a brilliant cast of characters. Essential reading
—— Simon Sebag MontefioreA beyond-brilliant new picture of the rise and fall of the East German state. Katja Hoyer gives us not only pin-sharp historical analysis, but an up-close and personal view of both key characters and ordinary citizens whose lives charted some of the darkest hours of the Cold War. If you thought you knew the history of East Germany, think again. An utterly riveting read
—— Julie EtchinghamA fantastic, sparkling book, filled with insights not only about East Germany but about the Cold War, Europe and the forging of the 20th and 21st centuries
—— Peter FrankopanThe joke has it that the duty of the last East German to escape from the country was to turn off the lights. In Beyond the Wall Katja Hoyer turns the light back on and gives us the best kind of history: frank, vivid, nuanced and filled with interesting people
—— Ivan KrastevA refreshing and eye-opening book on a country that is routinely reduced to cartoonish cliché. Beyond the Wall is a tribute to the ordinary East Germans who built themselves a society that - for a time - worked for them, a society carved out of a state founded in the horrors of Nazism and Stalinism
—— Owen HatherleyA colourful and often revelatory re-appraisal of one of modern history's most fascinating political curiosities. Katja Hoyer skilfully weaves diverse political and private lives together, from the communist elite to ordinary East Germans
—— Frederick TaylorKatja Hoyer is becoming the authoritative voice in the English speaking world for all things German. Thanks to her, German history has the prominence in the Anglosphere it certainly deserves.
—— Dan SnowKatja Hoyer brilliantly shows that the history of East Germany was a significant chapter of German history, not just a footnote to it or a copy of the Soviet Union. To understand Germany today we have to grapple with the history and legacy of its all but dismissed East
—— Serhii PlokhyKatja Hoyer's return to discover what happened to her homeland - the old East Germany - is an excellent counterpoint to Stasiland by Anna Funder
—— Iain Macgregor