The Invention of Yesterday - by Tamim Ansary (Hardcover)

About the Book

The author offers a sweeping history that describes the separate beginnings of the world's major cultural movements--Confucianism, Islam, Judeo-Christianity, and Nomadism--and the dramatic, sometimes ruinous, sometimes transformative effects of their intertwinement that is the defining feature of the world today.rld today.

Book Synopsis

In this "terrific" (San Francisco Chronicle) book, an award-winning author tells the story of how humans invented history, from the Stone Age to the Virtual Age

Traveling across millennia and cultures, The Invention of Yesterday argues that world history is a narrative we're constantly inventing. Fifty thousand years ago, we roamed the world as countless autonomous bands of hunter-gatherers, each one telling itself a story of the world with itself at the center. We used narratives to organize for survival and explain the unfathomable, and these stories evolved into the bases for cultures, empires, and civilizations. When disparate narratives collided, the encounters produced everything from confusion, chaos, and war to cultural efflorescence, religious awakenings, and intellectual breakthroughs.

Through vivid stories studded with insights, Tamim Ansary illuminates how our propensity to invent a shared symbolic universe has shaped our journey from the Stone Age to the Virtual Age.

Review Quotes

"The Invention of Yesterday is an insightful guide into human civilization packed with information that shows how we have been connected globally since the beginning of history. Tamim Ansary unpacks complicated theories to make sense of how we became who we are today."--Fariba Nawa, author of Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Woman's Journey through Afghanistan

"A beautifully written world history focused on the stories different civilizations have told about who we are. It ends with a fundamental question: In today's extraordinary world, can we build new narratives that are inclusive and global enough to encourage worldwide cooperation in the task of building a better future for humanity?"--David Christian, distinguished professor, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and author of Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History and Origin Story: A Big History of Everything

"A well-written and valuable take on the diverse narratives that have shaped human history."--Kirkus

"Ansary offers a remarkable big-picture synthesis that draws upon geography but resists determinism and celebrates diversity while embracing humanity's commonalities."--Booklist

"Brimming with essential insights and yet always approachable, this is the global history we need now."--Lynn Hunt, author of Writing History in the Global Era

"Tamim Ansary has done it again, writing an expansive, wonderfully readable account of our present world. With deft examples drawn from across history, he skewers the idea that there's anything pure about culture or race. Ideas have blended and meshed across space and time to make the modern world what it is. Ansary is a charming guide to this blesh of civilizations, and to the world's permanent-and hopeful-capacity for change."--Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System

"Weaving together multiple complex strands of the human experience into a single compelling storyline, Ansary delivers-in his usual down-to-earth yet erudite style-an engaging global 'narrative of narratives' informed by decades of critical study, reflection, and personal transcultural experience. A deeply enriching, highly relevant read from an important, unique voice of our day."--R. Charles Weller, Central Eurasian and Islamic world history, Washington State and Kazakh National University

"In his terrific new book, Tamim Ansary explores the underappreciated ways that empires, nations and smaller sets of people have responded to their surroundings, influenced one another and developed stories that give their lives meaning."--San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

Tamim Ansary is the author of many books, including Destiny Disrupted. He has published essays and commentary in the San Francisco Chronicle, Salon, the Los Angeles Times, and more. Born in Afghanistan in 1948, he moved to the US in 1964. He lives in San Francisco.