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Herodotus is known as the Father of History, but he was much more than that. He was also the world’s first travel writer, a pioneering geographer, anthropologist, explorer, moralist, tireless investigative reporter and enlightened multiculturalist before the word existed. He was at once learned professor and tabloid journalist, with an unfailing eye for fabulous material to inform and amuse, to titillate, horrify and entertain.
In his masterpiece the Histories, tall stories of dog-headed men, gold-digging ants and flying snakes jostle for space within a mesmerising narrative of the Persian Wars, from which Greece emerged triumphant in 5BC to give birth to Western civilisation.
Using the effervescent and profoundly modern Herodotus as his guiding light, Justin Marozzi takes the reader back to his world with eclectic travels to Greece, Turkey, Egypt and war-torn Iraq.
In his masterpiece the Histories, tall stories of dog-headed men, gold-digging ants and flying snakes jostle for space within a mesmerising narrative of the Persian Wars, from which Greece emerged triumphant in 5BC to give birth to Western civilisation.
Using the effervescent and profoundly modern Herodotus as his guiding light, Justin Marozzi takes the reader back to his world with eclectic travels to Greece, Turkey, Egypt and war-torn Iraq.
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Reviews
'Inspired'
'Marozzi is a fine advocate for Herodotus'
'Marozzi is a seasoned traveller-historian who pursues his scholarly quarry with the tenacity of a beagle...a rattling good read and a superior work of reflective instruction'
The most brilliant of the new generation of travelwriter-historians
'Justin Marozzi is that most precious rarity: a serious traveller who is also a real writer, with a wonderful feel for language, a gift for narrative and an enviable sensitivity and lightness of touch. Brave, romantic, erudite and humane, South from Barbary is a genuinely remarkable debut'
'The perfect travel book ...observant, shrewd, patient and exceedingly well attuned ... It is a measure of Marozzi's skill that he handles the big themes of history and the small irritations of third-millennium camel travel with equal charm and felicity'
'Excellent...a superbly rounded and vivid portrait of one of history's most fascinating personalities'
'Captivating, a delightful and fortunate conjunction between the world of [Tamerlane] then and that world transformed today'
'Herodotus may have lived 24 centuries ago but he is our 21st century contemporary and companion - the father not just of history but of comparative ethnography too, not only a brilliant storyteller and indefatigable traveller but also a shrewd and tolerant observer of human fads and foibles on the grandest global scale. Justin Marozzi, himself a veteran traveller and journalist and intrepid crosser of cultural frontiers, does his hero full justice in this scintillating, thought-provoking and entertaining hommage'
'A tour de force of travel writing'
'Intellectually stimulating but still able to raise a smile from the reader'
'This is a book of remarkable substance and style, brimming with humanity'
'A tribute to the man acknowledged as "the father of history", who was also the world's first travel writer, a geographer, anthropologist, explorer and moralist'
'This is a book of remarkable substance and style, brimming with humanity'
'Intellectually stimulating yet still able to riase a smile from the reader'
'The Man Who Invented History proves to be a tour de force of travel writing'
It's a good excuse to return to his outlandish stories of war and the exotic sexual practices of forgotten cultures
'Marozzi sets out faithfully to dog the footsteps of Herodotus, reporting the modern world in its customary warlike state'
This is a book of remarkable substance and style, brimming with humanity
'Marozzi's energy drives the book forward ... where (he) succeeds above all is in whetting the appetite'
'The power of the story is the essence of this book and it is to Marozzi's immense credit that his storytelling is almost as good as his mentor's. Together they are marvellous'
'A delightful book, fit companion to the Father of History himself'
'A very Herodotean book ... entertaining, engaging and humane'
'Compelling ... Where Marozzi succeeds above all is in whetting the appetite, making us long to return to the master'
'Marozzi himself is an unambiguously Herodotean figure ... The English Patient ... inspired thousands to rish out and buy the Histories. This book deserves to have the same effect'
'This is a fascinating and rich tale of a truly influential and seminal writer'
'Marozzi's excitement is catching,'
'His enthusiasm is everywhere apparent"
"Marozzi has an easy, readable style...but he does connect the ancient and modern worlds in an entertaining way"