Written in History: Letters That Changed the World

Written by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Narrated by Simon Russell Beale, Tuppence Middleton, Rupert Penry Jones and Juliet Stevenson

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Romanovs—and one of our pre-eminent historians and a prizewinning writer—an outstanding selection of great letters from ancient times to the 21st century, touching on power, love, art, sex, faith, and war.

Written in History: Letters that Changed the World celebrates the great letters of world history, and cultural and personal life. Bestselling, prizewinning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore selects letters that have changed the course of global events or touched a timeless emotion—whether passion, rage, humor—from ancient times to the twenty-first century. Some are noble and inspiring, some despicable and unsettling, some are exquisite works of literature, others brutal, coarse, and frankly outrageous, many are erotic, others heartbreaking. It is a surprising and eclectic selection, from the four corners of the world, filled with extraordinary women and men, from ancient times to now.

Truly a choice of letters for our own times encompassing love letters to calls for liberation to declarations of war to reflections on life and death. The writers vary from Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great to Mandela, Stalin and Picasso, Fanny Burney and Emily Pankhurst to Ada Lovelace and Rosa Parks, Oscar Wilde, Chekhov and Pushkin to Balzac, Mozart and Michelangelo, Hitler, Rameses the Great and Alexander Hamilton to Augustus and Churchill, Lincoln, Donald Trump and Suleiman the Magnificent.

In a book that is a perfect gift, here is a window on astonishing characters, seminal events, and unforgettable words. In the colorful, accessible style of a master storyteller, Montefiore shows why these letters are essential reading and how they can unveil and enlighten the past—and enrich the way we live now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9780593213155

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Simon Sebag Montefiore’s bestselling and prize-winning books are now published in over forty-five languages. His new book The Romanovs: 1613–1918 has been universally acclaimed and is already a bestseller in the UK, Australia, and the USA where it was on the New York Times bestseller list for eight weeks. Montefiore has won literary prizes for both fiction and nonfiction. His latest novel, One Night in Winter won the Best Political Novel of the Year Prize and was longlisted for the Orwell Prize. He is now writing the third novel in this trilogy. Follow Simon on Twitter at @SimonMontefiore. For more information visit SimonSebagMontefiore.com.

[miaculpa-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A collection of letters written through history that the front covers trumpets as changing history, which is a long stretch for many of the letters included but some have undeniably led to empires falling and evil stalking the earth.

In most cases the background to the letters by the author are far better reading than the letter itself, although some stand out; Tito’s request to Stalin to cease sending assassins to kill him, promising that if anymore wannabe assassins are caught, Tito would send an assassin of his own, and wouldn’t need to send a second, while Mozart’s letters to his cousin are disturbingly fecal fetishist related.

The letter that will stay with you though is from a Jewish woman to her husband at Auschwitz, informing him that she has decided to accompany their son to the gas chamber so he won’t be alone in his final moments. And I do believe I am tearing up writing this.