The Prisoner and the Kings: How One Man Changed the Course of History

by William Sears

A riveting historical account of a prisoner in a Turkish penal colony and the world-changing letters he sent to the religious and secular leaders. Between 1867 and 1873 a solitary prisoner in a Turkish penal colony wrote a series of letters to the kings and emperors of the day, predicting with amazing accuracy the course of modern the fall of several nations, the overthrow of certain individual monarchs, the decline of specific religious institutions, the rise of communism, and the threat of nuclear weapons. The prisoner was Baha'u'llah, Prophet and Founder of the Baha'i Faith. What was the source of the prisoner's knowledge? What did the letters have to say about the future of humanity in the twenty-first century? The answers are here.

Genres: Baha I

259 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

William Sears (March 28, 1911 - March 25, 1992) was a prominent American Bahá'í teacher and writer.

Sears was appointed a Hand of the Cause by Shoghi Effendi in the last contingent of Hands prior to his death in 1957.

Sears was a United States television and radio personality. He remains an extremely popular author in the Bahá'í community.

(source: Wikipedia June 28, 2008)

Picture reproduced with permission of the Bahá’í International Community.

Reviews

[The Books of Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sits next to “Thief in the night”, also by William Sears. Read and decide for yourself.

[Joyce Yang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very striking storytelling of the fall of kings and emperors in a relatively short period of time.. as is noted in the introduction, this book is not meant to be a "scholarly investigation" into these events but rather a new perspective and glimpse into an unprecedented era of change for humanity. Even as someone who is mildly familiar with the perspective Sears gives, I was still pretty shocked by the bold statements that are made as well as the striking sequences of events that he lays side by side for our judgment. While I don't think any the narrative of any one historian or storyteller should be taken as pure truth, I think novel/not mainstream perspectives such as this one have a lot to offer as we try to better understand our history and where we are going as a civilization. Overall, I really enjoyed this book!!!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is pretty much the perfect book for me. It's written in the conversational style that I like, covers material that is important and interesting to me etc.