Alexander the Great A New History Book

Ronald Wright bases his book/lecture series around three seemingly simple, yet profound questions that have haunted human beings since time began.

'Where did we come from?'
'What are we?'
'Where are we going?'

If you have any curiosity about the answers to these questions, don't hesitate to pick up 'A Short history of progress'.

From these three questions, Wright takes us on a whirlwind tour of human history, from the dawn of humanity to the present day.

By answering the first two questions, Wright seeks to answer to third and most difficult question, 'Where are we going?'. Unsurprisingly, the outlook is bleak. Wright predicts that our society will collapse like so many other ancient civilisations, Easter Island and Sumerian society being the most prominent examples, but on a much grander scale. To avoid the downfall of our civilisation, we must wake up and realise that we can no longer afford to repeat history.

What sets Wright apart from other historians is his talent for compressing so much into so little time, while preserving the essence of his material. His biting wit, skill with language and dry sense of humour make his lectures a pleasure to listen to (contrast to the average university lecture!). Wright’s book, despite the breadth of its subject matter, is extremely readable. Compared to Jared Diamond’s verbose works, ‘A Short History’ is accessible to even the least academically inclined among us.