PRAISE FOR 1688: A Global History

“A totally absorbing book . . . imaginative and erudite.”

—Jonathan D. Spence

“A vivid picture of life in 1688 . . . filled with terrifying violence and comfortingly familiar human kindnesses.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Wills has pulled from the raging silence of history . . . a roiling mass of transnational humanity, and so reminded us that we have been a globalizing planet for more than 300 years.”

—Tom Engelhardt, Washington Post

“One of the most fascinating and brilliant works of popular history ever written . . . a total triumph.”

—Frank McLynn, The Independent

“John Wills’s book affords eye-opening perspectives on these worlds apart. Equally expert from China to Peru, he paints vibrant vignettes of bustling cities, sumptuous courts and corrupt regimes the world over, the energies of commerce, abuses of power and triumphs of art.”

—Roy Porter, The [London] Times

“Wills examines what particular women and men from all around the world thought, wrote, and did in the span of the same single year. [He] brings all of them alive. No reader will ever forget this book.”

—Geoffrey Parker, author of The Grand Strategy of Phillip II

“An enchanting and learned volume, written with grace and wit and modesty and—above all—the firm conviction that history matters for everyone.”

—Michael Pakenham, Baltimore Sun