Listen to the new episode of Pagecast! Mphuthumi Ntabeni chats to acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore
More about the book!

In the latest episode of Pagecast, the podcast from Jonathan Ball Publishers, author Mphuthumi Ntabeni interviews Simon Sebag Montefiore about his new book The World: A Family History.

On Monday, 20 March, amid a national shutdown in South Africa, Ntabeni met up with Montefiore in a quiet nook of the Book Lounge in Cape Town.

The World is a fresh and original history of humanity, unlike any previous world history: it uses family, the one thing all humans have in common, to tell the story.

In his new book, Montefiore steers us through an interconnected world via palace intrigues, love affairs and family lives, linking grand themes of war, migration, plague, religion, medicine and technology to the people at the heart of the human drama. It features a cast of extraordinary span and diversity.

The World is both a celebration and an indictment that takes the human story, from caves to drones, in a single narrative by a master storyteller.

Pagecast offers you insider interviews with recently published authors, looking into the process of writing, exploring the narratives within and providing you with the story behind the story.