Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past

'A huge, fizzing omnium-gatherum of a book . . . marvellous' Daily Telegraph

'Witty, wise and elegant . . . a classic of history itself' The Spectator

'Grave and witty, suave yet pointed . . . full of energy' Hilary Mantel

'An enthralling investigation . . . consistently entertaining' The Times

'Epic . . . whatever Cohen writes about he writes about with brio' New Yorker

Who writes the past? And how do the biases of storytellers - whether Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare or Simon Schama - influence our ideas about history today?

Epic, authoritative and entertaining, Making History delves into the lives of those who have charted human history - professional historians, witnesses, novelists, journalists and propagandists - to discover the agendas that informed their world views, and which in so many ways have informed ours. From the origins of history-writing through to television and the digital age, Making History abounds in captivating figures brought to vivid life, from Thucydides and Tacitus to Voltaire and Gibbon, from Winston Churchill to Mary Beard. Rich in character, complex truths and surprising anecdotes, the result is a unique exploration of both the aims and craft of history-making that will lead us to think anew about our past and ourselves.

Richard Cohen is the author of Chasing the Sun, How to Write Like Tolstoy and By the Sword. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and for two years was programme director of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature. Five times UK national sabre champion, he was selected for the British Olympic fencing team. He lives in New York.