The Written World

Martin Puchner Granta €12.99

When Alexander the Great set out to conquer Persia he was said to have slept with a copy of Homer’s Iliad tucked under his pillow. Martin Puchner’s wide-ranging and effortlessly erudite book traces the central role of literature in the development of culture and civilisation, starting with the ancients and ending with a playfully provocative look at the global phenomenon of Harry Potter.