Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World

The history of language is also a history of its speakers, reflecting the power, culture, conquests, prestige and occasionally the declining fortunes of its users.

Through the study of its languages, we find a potted history of the world itself.

Empires of the Word is the first and only book to recount this remarkable story in all its glorious variety. It reveals the amazing innovations in education, culture and diplomacy devised by speakers in the Middle East; surveys the uncanny resilience of Chinese throughout twenty centuries of invasions; charts the progress of Sanskrit from north India to Java and Japan; describes the struggle that gave birth to the languages of modern Europe; and measures the global spread of English. And it shows us that the languages of the future will, like the languages of the past, be full of surprises.