Escrito en la historia: Cartas que cambiaron el mundo

by Simon Sebag Montefiore, Gonzalo García (Translator)

Escrito en la historia conmemora las mayores y más importantes cartas del panorama político, cultural, artístico, o de la vida privada de aquellos personajes célebres que influyeron en el devenir de nuestra historia. El aclamado historiador Simon Sebag Montefiore ha seleccionado más de cien cartas que van desde la Antigüedad, como la que dirigió Marco Antonio a Octavio Augusto en el año 33 a. C.; hasta nuestro siglo, como la de Donald J. Trump a Kim Jong-Un en mayo de 2018. Sus autores varían desde Isabel I de Inglaterra, Ramsés II, Frida Kahlo y Leonard Cohen, hasta Nelson Mandela, Stalin, Michelangelo o personajes anónimos que vivieron circunstancias extraordinarias. Cartas de amor, gritos a la libertad, declaraciones de guerra y reflexiones sobre la muerte que Montefiore, un maestro de contar historias, nos acerca, con su característico estilo fresco y accesible. Porque estas cartas que ilustran nuestro pasado, enriquecen el modo en que vivimos hoy e iluminan nuestro futuro, son una lectura necesaria.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Historical, Politics, World History, Audiobook

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Simon Sebag Montefiore is the author of the global bestsellers 'The Romanovs' and 'Jerusalem: the Biography,' 'Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar' and Young Stalin and the novels Sashenka and One Night in Winter and "Red Sky at Noon." His books are published in 48 languages and are worldwide bestsellers. He has won prizes in both non-fiction and fiction. He read history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, where he received his Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD).
'The Romanovs' is his latest history book. He has now completed his Moscow Trilogy of novels featuring Benya Golden and Comrade Satinov, Sashenka, Dashka and Fabiana.... and Stalin himself.


Buy in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Winter-...

"A thrilling work of fiction. Montefiore weaves a tight, satisfying plot, delivering surprises to the last page. Stalin's chilling charisma is brilliantly realised. The novel's theme is Love: family love, youthful romance, adulterous passion. One Night in Winter is full of redemptive love and inner freedom." Evening Standard

"Gripping and cleverly plotted. Doomed love at the heart of a violent society is the heart of Montefiore's One Night in Winter... depicting the Kafkaesque labyrinth into which the victims stumble." The Sunday Times

"Compulsively involving. Our fear for the children keeps up turning the pages... We follow the passions with sympathy... The knot of events tugs at a wide range of emotions rarely experienced outside an intimate tyranny." The Times

"The novel is hugely romantic. His ease with the setting and historical characters is masterly. The book maintains a tense pace. Uniquely terrifying. Heartrending. Engrossing. " The Scotsman

“Delicately plotted and buried within a layered, elliptical narrative, One Night in Winter is also a fidgety page-turner which adroitly weaves a huge cast of characters into an arcane world.” Time Out

“A novel full of passion, conspiracy, hope, despair, suffering and redemption, it transcends boundaries of genre, being at once thriller and political drama, horror and romance. His ability to paint Stalin in such a way to make the reader quake with fire is matched by talent for creating truly heartbreaking characters: the children who find themselves at the centre of a conspiracy, the parents…. A gripping read and must surely be one of the best novels of 2013. ” NY Journal of Books

"Not just a thumpingly good read, but also essentially a story of human fragility and passions, albeit taking place under the intimidating shadow of a massive Stalinist portico." The National

"Seriously good fun... the Soviet march on Berlin, nightmarish drinking games at Stalin's countryhouse, the magnificence of the Bolshoi, interrogations, snow, sex and exile... lust adultery and romance. Eminently readable and strangely affecting." Sunday Telegraph

" "Hopelessly romantic and hopelessly moving. A mix of lovestory thriller and historical fiction. Engrossing." The Observer

“Gripping. Montefiore’s characters snare our sympathy and we follow them avidly. This intricate at times disturbing, always absorbing novel entertains and disturbs and seethes with moral complexity. Characters real+fictitious ring strikingly true.It is to a large extent Tolstoyan …..” The Australian

“Enthralling. Montefiore writes brilliantly about Love - from teenage romance to the grand passion of adultery. Readers of Sebastian Faulks and Hilary Mantel will lap this up. A historical novel that builds into a nail-biting drama … a world that resembles… Edith Wharton with the death penalty.” Novel of

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve said in previous reviews that I tend to be put off whenever publishers use the phrase “changed the world” in the subtitle of a book, but the idea of considering history through letters was sufficiently novel to pull me into this one. I would say that not many of these letters could be said to have changed anything, let alone the world, but leaving that aside, there is enough in here to make the reading experience worthwhile.

The letters are organised into sections such as “Discovery”, “Disaster”, or “War”, along with themes like “Folly” and “Decency” which are obviously quite subjective. The opening theme is “Love”, and I didn’t find it the most promising of starts. I daresay the letters featured meant a lot to the authors and recipients, but personally I found it a bit weird to read the love letters of people who died decades or even centuries ago. For me the more interesting content came later in the book, although even then the reader has to plough through mundane material in between.

Quite a few of the “letters” consist of only a few lines, accompanied by explanatory material by the author. A few of the short notes were powerful though. One, written in Auschwitz by a woman called Vilma Grünwald to her husband, a few minutes before she was gassed, is rightly described by the author as “almost unreadably poignant”. On a different tack, there’s a laconic note sent by Tito to Stalin in 1948. Stalin had sent 5 hitmen (separately) to kill Tito, but they were all intercepted by Tito’s security team. After the 5th one Tito writes to Stalin to say if he sends any more assassins, Tito will send one of his own to kill Stalin “and I certainly won’t have to send another”. This worked – Stalin sent no more hitmen. In the final section entitled “Goodbye”, Leonard Cohen writes a short but beautiful note to a former lover, on hearing that she is terminally ill. Another letter, from Alan Turing to his friend Norman Routledge after Turing was arrested for “Gross Indecency” (i.e. homosexuality) is very moving, because Turing’s distress and fear come through all too clearly.

Other “highlights” include an 1812 letter from the novelist Fanny Burney to her sister, describing how she underwent a mastectomy. The operation was carried out without anaesthetic, as they all were in those days, and makes you grateful for modern medicine. A Capt. Chater of the Gordon Highlanders gives us a fascinating description of the famous “Christmas Truce” of 1914, whilst a Battle of Britain pilot, David Hughes, describes his experiences in a letter to his parents, a month before he was killed. A letter from Jacqueline Kennedy to Nikita Khrushchev, written a few days after JFK’s assassination, reveals an unexpected side to the former First Lady. The compilation also includes Émile Zola’s famous “J’accuse” open letter about the Dreyfuss affair, a masterclass in eloquence.

A compilation like this allows me to write a review in which I pick out what I liked. There were other letters I found worthwhile, along with some I didn’t. I suppose any book like this will be a mixed bag, as we all have different interests.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, for the most part, was an interesting collection of letters from across the ages. The book is divided into sections such as love, goodbye and family, and some of those letters I preferred more than others. This could be classes as a coffee table book, or, one could just read it in one go like I did.

Letters can be a powerful item, and they can indeed, change the world, and that was where I felt a little cheated by the title of this book. The title states "Letters that changed the world" and unfortunately, I would argue that a good portion of these letters failed to do that. Of course, Winston Churchill's goodbye letter to his Wife would have been notable, and it was indeed poignant to read, but a letter from Donald Trump to Kim Jong-un, definitely didn't change the world, if having any impact at all on the recipient.

This book was something I wouldn't normally pick up, and I'm glad I did, but I do think the title is misleading.

[Austra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lieliska vēstuļu kolekcija, kas aptver dažādus laikus un dažādas tēmas - te ir gan mīlestības, gan draudu vēstules. Ir faraoni, mīlnieki un revolucionāri. Ir prieki un bēdas, un viss, kas pa vidu. Pirms katras vēstules grāmatas sastādītājs nedaudz ieskicē notikumus un vēsturisko vai politisko fonu, tā sniedzot lielāku izpratni arī tam lasītājam, kurš nepārzina itin visus vēstures smalkumus. Uzķēru gan pāris neprecizitātes (kas droši vien liecina, ka to var būt arī vairāk), tomēr tas īpaši netraucēja izbaudīt šo vēstuļu krājumu.

[Belinda Carvalho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the variety of historical figures in this book and the anecdotes linked to their letters. Even with very famous people, there were parts of their stories that I didn't know and it was amazing how often those who were at the top then had a reversal of fortunes. I loved how some letters were so personal and revealed a totally different side. Simon Sebag Montefiore's introductions to the letters were also great. I'd be really interested in reading one of his longer works now.
All in all it's just a great book and the only thing I disliked were the shorter letters and some of the ancient ones which didn't work so well.It would be a great present for a young person who's really into history.

[Miglė · Rating 4 out of 5]

TL;DR: meilė skatina rašyti nuobodžius laiškus, o karas - įdomius.

Fragmentiška knyga, bet Montefiore's pasakotojo talentas užburiantis. Trumpai, keliais puslapiais, nubrėžiamos žymių žmonių biografijos ir pateikiamos (dažniausiai gana trumpos) ištraukos iš jų laiškų.

Knyga prasideda nuo laiškų apie meilę ir šeimą, ir vos nenumečiau jos - na ir nuobodūs tie įsimylėjėliai! Bet paskui užgriebiama daugiau temų ir tiesiog atkutau.

Keli įdomesni:

• Mocartas rašo erotinius-humoristinius laiškus pusseserei apie... šūdus. Taip, žmogaus išmatas. Tiesa, dar ir bezdėjimą.

• Tėvas rašo laišką sūnui, jaunajam kardinolui de Mediciui, prisergėdamas Romoje labai nelėbauti ir nesidulkinti į kairę ir į dešinę, bet jaunuolis akivaizdžiai nepaklauso, ir, vėliau tapęs popiežiumi, savo lėbavimu paskatino Martiną Liuterį sukilti prieš korumpuotą bažnyčią. Įdomu, kaip būtų istorija susiklosčiusi, jei būtų paklausęs tėvo patarimų.

• Marksas ir Engelsas kaip baisiausi pletkininkai laiškuose apkalba sėkmingesnį jųdviejų bendražygį, labai jau nešykštėdami antisemitinių ir rasistinių epitetų. Tikrai visai nešykšti jų.

• Toks šiurpokas Stalino žaidimas su maža dukra - ji žaidė esanti diktatorė ir rašanti jam įsakymus, o jis pasirašydavo "Klausau. Mažasis Setankos sekretorius Stalinas", meanwhile tūkstančiais kankindamas ir žudydamas žmones.

• Dar apie Staliną: siuntinėjo jis žudikus užmušti Jugoslavijos lyderį Tito, o šis jam atrašo:

Nustokite siuntinėjęs žmones manęs nužudyti! Mes penkis iš jų jau sugavome, vieną su bomba, o kitą su šautuvu... Jei nenustosite siųsti žudikų, aš vieną labai greitai dirbantį išsiųsiu į Maskvą ir man tikrai nereikės siųsti kito.

• Kordobos kalifas, karaliavęs 50 metų, mirties patale, prisimindamas šlovingą valdymą, bando suskaičiuoti, kiek išties laimingų dienų patyrė, ir suskaičiuoja... 14 :(

• Mikelandželas tapo Siksto koplyčios lubų freskas ir baisiai užsikankinęs rašo laišką bičiuliui:

Kai autorius tapė Siksto koplyčios skliautą,
Nuo šios kankynės išaugo jau gūžys,
Išsipūtė, nelyginant katė Lombardijos
(ar kito krašto, kur stovintis vanduo apnuodija).
Pilvas užkrito ant smakro, barzda
Styro į viršų, smegenys prilipo prie kiaušo,
krūtinę persuko kaip harpijai. Teptukas
visąlaik virš manęs, varvina dažą,
Tad veidą visą nutaškė lašeliais!
Mano klubai trina man žarnas,
vargšas užpakalis stengiasi viską atsverti,
o kiekvienas mano mostas aklas ir betikslis <...>

Paskui rašo, kaip negeros mintys lenga jam į galvą ir kokio velnio apsiėmė daryti tokį darbą, gi jis ne tapytojas, o skulptorius!

[N D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard the author speaking about this book at the Hay Literary Festival and very much enjoyed his presentation of a few of the letters assembled in this collection. Reading the book, however, proved to be a different experience.
Seabag Montefiore has brought together a collection of what some might say are extraordinary letters, a few from a long ago as 3,000 years, which is amazing, but I found many to be dry and less than interesting. The author orders the letters under headings such as Love, Family, Creation etc. and this worked well for me. I found the most telling and interesting letters in the 'Goodbye' section at the end of the book. Churchill's 'to be opened on my death' letter to his wife and Leonard Cohen's letter to his old lover, Marianne, being two of the most touching.
There are a few good laughs to be had from some of the letters, albeit quite dark laughs in places, and I enjoyed and was enlightened by some of the historical/political letters. All in all, though, I'm not sure I would recommend the book.

[Anel Mušanović · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ne znam koliko se može ocijeniti jedna kolekcija pisama, ali mislim da ova nije najbolja koju sam pročitao. Iako sadrži različita pisma, neka doista zanimljiva, mislim da je autor uložio previše vremena u to da nam objasni svako pismo. To mi se nije dopalo i oduzelo mi je od kompletnog utiska knjige.

Ukoliko volite čitati pisma, ova kolekcija će vam biti zanimljiva zbog različitosti i tema, ali sam siguran da možete pronaći bolje.

[Lucynell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 5

Written in History: Letters That Changed the World
Simon Sebag Montefiore
2018

5/5


The title is kind of misleading, few of these letters changed the world, even if we are to assume the world is something fixed on a steady course and deviations are so abnormal we call them changes. Reverend John Stevens Henslow urging Charles Darwin aboard HMS Beagle certainly had an impact, as did Donald Trump counter-threatening Kim Jong Um with nuclear warfare. No matter. This is an unmissable collection of private and public letters -in other words, a look into the private and public hearts and minds- of some of the most important people that ever lived. This includes RAF pilots, concentration camps survivors, as well as poets, Queens, scientists, and others. It is quite revealing when read this way, in a letter form. Mozart's scatological obsession, Flaubert's debauchery, Catherine the Great's brilliance, John Keats's fiery love, Leonard Cohen's final goodbye to Marianne Ihlen, the heartbreaking treatment of Alan Turing by the law. Highly recommended.

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

A really bad selection of letters here. Very few of these are world changing letters, most are random letters from significant people. The authors bias definitely shows here too, with the only letters from Marx and Engels including racism (the author claims this as essential to Marxism in general (???)), at the same time the author commends the bravery of the murderer Harry Truman when he defends the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Read this if you want some insight into the personal lives of famous people but don't look out for anything too significant and take the author's takes with a little scepticism.

[Ingrida Lisauskiene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simon Sebag Montefiore yra britų istorikas, kurio motinos kilmė siejamas su Lietuva, bet čia ne apie tai. Autorius, kurio knygų leidimus seku ir gardžiuojuosi. Gal ir yra kiek populizmo, bet jis labai sveikas ir skatinantis domėtis istorija. Taigi šį kartą iš istorijos tėkmės atkeliavę įvairūs laiškai, nešantis linksmas, liūdnas, baisias žinias, kurstantys neapykatą ar meilės jausmus, mokantys jaunesnius šeimos narius tėvų išminties. Skaitydamas supranti, kad žmogaus vidinis pasaulis ir poreikiai ne taip jau stipriai ir keičiasi.

[Marija · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good compilation of valuable letters that played significant role in the history of human kind. Sincerely recommend to everyone. Besides quoted letters author is also briefly explaining the historical context and who the sender/receivers were. No need for front reading, yet further reading is recommended/expected about topics that take your attention.

[Juli Rahel · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a kid, I always felt like we had tons of "coffee table books". Those books that you don't read in one go but that you peek into when you've sat down with a cup of coffee and when you're looking for 10 minutes of quiet. Anything can be a coffee table book. A book on art, a puzzle book, maybe a comic strip or even a collection of letters. As such, I felt right at home in Written in History. Thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Vintage and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Sebag Montefiore isn't the first to recognize the power of personal letters. Alongside many published diaries, you can find the published letters of countless of authors and important figures in bookstores. Reading Written in History I was reminded of how much I loved writing letters and postcard when I was younger. Writing emails doesn't have quite the same feel to it since it somehow, and illogically, feels more ... impermanent. As such, Written in History is something of an ode to letter writing, celebrating what some call a dying art. This collection shows how much of ourselves we show in our letters and how our writing can be the start and end of something. This is also why it feels like a "coffee table book", because Written in History lets you dip into all kinds of feelings, whether it's excitement, sadness or nostalgia. It doesn't require a lot of attention and focus, but it is the perfect starting point for quiet contemplation or exciting conversation.

The only thing to really complain about with Written in History is that it's subtitle is a little dramatic and misleading. In their own way, many of those who wrote the letters in this collection did change the world, but these letters themselves often didn't. Most of the letters in this collection are fascinating. Although not all readers will find each letter equally fascinating, there is something for everyone here. Written in History is divided into different sections, such as 'Love', 'Family' and even 'Goodbye'. It's a nice way to group together letters from across the ages. We get a sassy response from a Pharaoh, a frankly disgusting if hilarious letter from Mozart, Churchill's lovely farewell letter to his wife, and even Trump's letter to Kim Jong-Il. Some of the letters showed me a whole new side of these people, usually for the better but occasionally also for the worse. Sebag Montefiore prefaces each letter with a short introduction, relaying some of the context of the letter and background to those that wrote it. His writing style is very pleasant and this made me curious to seek out his other books.

Written in History is a lovely collection of letters from across the ages. There will be something for everyone here and some letters are truly touching.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very short book, and some of the letters aren't that interesting.

[Nick Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough to rate, though relatively simple to review - this was a very interesting and appealing idea, but the execution proved to be a little inconsistent. Not necessarily though any fault of the author, more that translating the idea of presenting a series of historical letters into a readable and varied book that held the attention, it made for a difficult task.

There were many within this which were of substantial interest and which presented an insightful read. However, there were many which didn't really interest me - the variety is always likely to lead to some letters/periods being a lot less interesting to the reader than others. I also found that the necessary sections in which each letter was placed in context prior to presenting the extracts concerned, it made for a slightly choppy experience. It was almost like wandering round a museum or gallery finding oneself spending more time reading the labels and didactic panels than looking at the exhibits.

[Song · Rating 3 out of 5]

这本书是被用一种碎片化的方式阅读的。前三分之二在上海，后三分之一在美国旅行度假途中读完。所幸书的内容也是碎片化的呈现，一封封的书信，彼此之间并不连贯，而是独立地呈现了世界历史从远古到当代的各个光怪陆离的瞬间，因此这样的内容也容忍了我这样的阅读方式。

书信本身是按照爱情、愚蠢、勇气、发现、解放等等主题分门别类汇编在一起的。而不知为何，作者把“爱情篇”放在了全书第一部分，于是读者一开始就读到了一大堆莫名其妙的情书，其中还涉及同性、乱伦、通奸、猥亵，极其影响读者的胃口，比如拿破仑写给约瑟芬的信，甚至包含了性爱细节，这可能就让读者直接放弃了。

还好书中后面部分有很多书信确实精彩，有些也令人感动，前提是——忍住第一部分那些该死的“爱情”书信，我有理由怀疑作者是利用人们的窥私欲，才把私人情书放在全书第一部分的。

[Aimee Shattock · Rating 2 out of 5]

I REALLY wanted to love this because I think the concept is amazing but I found this really difficult to get through. The writing style of the historical context is overly convoluted and the letters are... underwhelming.

[Tom Oldale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, honestly... it’s a mixed bag. I can’t recommend buying this book at a full retail price but if you see it on a friends shelf or in a sale, be sure to pick it up and take a quick look.

The book is organised nicely into different “subject matter” relating to the letters such as Family, Love, Power, Goodbye etc and this works really well allowing you to compare similar events in different time periods and ponder over how much our ideals, actions and regrets have changed, or not over hundreds and sometimes thousands of years.

The problem is, as many reviewers have said previously, too many of the letters are just OK or simply, quite mundane, and most of them certainly don’t “change the world” as the book title suggests.

Thankfully these sub-par scribbles are mostly balanced out by some incredible works of the written word that must be read by everyone. The good ones convey every emotion you can think of, propelled by every human situation you can think of and the very best of them impact your heart, mind and soul.

The pre-letter paragraphs before each piece are well written and very interesting in their own right and some of them are even worth reading without the letter, so thank-you to Sebag-Montefiore for that.

The truly great letters, from the likes of the Roman Empire and WW2 etc are equally as fascinating as each other, even being nearly 2000 years apart and overall the book has some real gems that should not be missed! It’s just a shame they don’t all hit you like you hope.

[Jamie Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letters may be a dying art now but this book captures the power of the written word through some amazing letters from across history. This book has letters from Gandhi, Hitler, Mozart, Churchill and many more.

[Sarah83 sbookshelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denkt man an die großen Briefe der Weltgeschichte zurück, fallen einem im ersten Moment sicherlich die Bände mit den größten Liebesbriefen aller Zeiten ein. In einer Zeit, in der man nicht per Messanger, Mail oder ähnlichem mit dem Liebsten kommunizieren konnte, galt das Briefe schreiben als Kunst. Gefühle durch Worte zu vermitteln. Nicht in 160 Zeichen, sondern gediegen. Auf Büttenpapier mit Feder und Tinte die ganze Macht der Sehnsucht in die Worte legend, mussten diese Briefe lange Wege überstehen, bevor der andere sie in Händen hielt und sich der Sehnsucht des anderen bewusst wurde.
Doch schreibt die Geschichte auch andere Briefe. Sicherlich auch mit Gefühl. Aber mit Gefühlen anderer Art. Briefe des Hasses, Briefe der Täuschung und Enttäuschung, Briefe des Mutes und Briefe des Beschwichtigens.
Bücher mit dem Hintergedanken, "was wäre wenn", kommen einem in den Sinn, wenn man die Briefesammlung von Simon Sebag Montefiore liest. Hätte der Briefeschreiber nicht so, sondern anders gehandelt? Was wäre dann in der Weltgeschichte passiert? Sicherlich ist das Ausmaß sehr unterschiedlich, aber sicher ist, Briefe haben Kriege verhindern, Briefe haben Allianzen geschmiedet, Briefe haben Länder zusammengeführt.
Durch drei Jahrtausende nimmt uns der Autor mit, um uns zu zeigen, dass die Kultur des Briefeschreibens mehr zu bieten hat, als nur die bekannten Liebesbriefe.
Unterteilt in mehrere Kapitel, thematisch sortiert nach ihren auslösenden Gefühlen, wird jeder Brief durch jeweils eine Einleitung in seinen historischen Kontext gesetzt. Die Überschrift weist den Leser daraufhin, wer an wen zu welchem Zeitpunkt geschrieben hat.
Die Briefe sind in ihrer Natur sehr unterschiedlich. Mal sehr kurz, fast einem Befehl gleichlautend, ziehen andere sich über mehrere Seiten oder es wird sogar ein ganzer Briefwechsel abgedruckt.
Abschiedsbriefe wechseln sich mit Briefen der Rechtfertigung ab und Briefe zur Aufnahme der präsidialen Macht folgen denen, die einen Dritten Weltkrieg höchstwahrscheinlich verhindert haben.
Aber ja und auch in diesem Buch gibt es Liebesbriefe. Keine Sorge. Sonst wäre eine Briefesammlung mit allen Facetten der Gefühle nicht vollständig.
Ein tolles Buch. Als Geschichtsbuch, als Buch über das menschliche Denken, als Buch über alles das, was es ausmacht ein Mensch zu sein. Und natürlich ein Buch, dass uns die Macht der Worte vor Augen führt. Worte, die die körperliche Distanz überbrücken und dem Empfänger trotzdem das richtige Gefühl übermitteln müssen. Welches es auch jeweils sein mag.

5 von 5 Büttenblättern

[Iain Clowes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a demonstrably interesting premise that instantly flops. The author commits throughout to a bizarre view of history where everyone is a protagonist or antagonist, tragic or comic, as a sort of Great Man theory with added virtues, and thus ends up forcibly injecting his opinions on everything. "Bias is unavoidable in history" is a truism, but this is less of a subtle seeping and more of an explicit choice to make absolutely sure the reader won't make their own mind up about anything. Marxists are always murdering people or being racist, the Muslims only ever talk about death. Plenty of famous white men are valiant and romantic, of course. Sometimes we get a pharaoh to say basically nothing and with minimal analysis, because since when did tokens need effort?

The text earns its second star for the genuinely good concept of compiling ancient letters. They are all abbreviated, because they are long generally, but we never get a how or why nor any sort of insight into the authors analysis or editorial choices. Fear not, however, there is ample time spent to tell us that the former leader of the UK Labour party isn't good, despite neither him nor the party being mentioned once in the text. This lack of focus on the reason anyone is buying the book to instead spend time on Montefiore's Very Clever Thoughts starts quite literally on the first page and simply refuses to end. Also lacking from the introduction is a coherent method or criteria as to how or why letters are picked, or the categories they are sorted under. This is never picked up again, and presumably this is because Montefiore is a rather famous historian and thus must not be questioned by us mere plebs. If he were operating on simple preferences and a list of his favourites, then it would be somewhat defensible - we could ask why and what was included, and this text can be further interrogated. Instead, we get vague platitudes about how history is important and letters used to be common, as if that needed to be established to the reader.

Overall, the text reads as a man with a lot of interesting letters on his desk trying to show that history is awful and aren't we glad to live in the present? Thus, he must ceaselessly prove his centrist credentials. Personally, I wanted to read the letters instead. Do not read this book unless you want to glaze over its contents.

[Sanskriti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, more than the stories, these are the personal anecdotes exchanged between families, friends, lovers, spouses to arch enemies discussing their stand on issues and the surroundings. So, it can't be looked at really from a historical point of view. It's a conversation aspect of the events that have happened around the world. It may have been monumental in the events that took place but unless one has really read the history behind them, these letters may not seem like a relatable content.

[Bob Mcdermott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, though my own history knowledge is a little patchy. Maybe that is why i enjoyed the little introductions to the letters more than the letters themselves; it transpires that not all great historical figures were great with words.

It has made me want to learn more about some figures from history, so I'm off to find a book about Sir Walter Raleigh and Che Guevara (probably not the same book).

[Alejandro Salgado B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy interesante recopilación de cartas de grandes personajes de la historia a través de los años y épocas, que nos da una visión de su importancia en distintos momentos de la historia. Clasificadas por temas, como amor, pérdida, política, etc, y todas con una introducción del autor que nos da un contexto de la situación y el momento de la época en que fueron enviadas. Muy interesante.

[Dipra Lahiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

An eclectic collection, spanning several centuries, and a myriad writers. While readers are debating whether these letters actually "changed the world", I found these selections to be a window into the soul of these historic figures, as they are mostly very private thoughts, that are usually left out of standard histories.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read in this style and it certainly won't be my last.

You probably won't find it gripping if you are already aware of the individual letters/situations, but for me it was a fantastic introductions. Simon Sebag Montefiore 's introductions and context was useful and as ever, well written.

[Olivia Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book. Some of the stories were very emotive and beautiful, particularly in the goodbye section. I really liked how it gave a short introduction on each person and the context of where they were at in life when it was written. 5*

[Michael Grizer (He-Him) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremley intriguing. Definitely worth the read. The author does an excellent job of quickly summarizing complex world events to give the necessary context to some truly incredible letters.

[A D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of letters written by people from across the centuries. Not sure how many of these letters actually changed the world though. Still, who’s going to buy a book entitled - Letters that are quite interesting but many of them are not really that historically significant.

[Dila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of letters but it’d be so much better with more context around the letters and better editing as the letter sections are very irritating to look at sometimes.

[Pedro Trujillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great walk through history using epistolar sources.