Making History

""[A] superb survey from Herodotus to Mary Beard. . . . Witty, wise and elegant, this tremendous book deserves to become a classic of history itself.""--Nigel Jones ""The Spectator"" ""An enthralling investigation into the ways in which the background of historians affected and affects the way they present the past.""--Christina Hardyment ""The London Times"" ""Supremely entertaining. . . . Whatever Cohen writes about he writes about with brio.""--Louis Menand ""The New Yorker"" ""What a grand, illuminating, and fun book! Richard Cohen takes us on a learned tour through the cacophony of history and of the characters who've told the stories that shape us. To understand who we are, we have to understand who we've been--and, as Cohen amply demonstrates, who has formed those understandings.""--Jon Meacham, author of American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House and Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power ""Sprawling and wildly ambitious, idiosyncratic and also consistently readable and engaging, Making History dives deep into the way history-driven scholars and artists -- from Burns to Shakespeare to Herodotus -- have shaped the collective memory of humankind."" --Douglas Brinkley ""The Washington Post"" ""What a brilliant achievement! Like all Richard Cohen's writing, Making History opens a dialogue with the reader--grave and witty, suave yet pointed, erudite yet engaging and full of energy. It has huge scope but never forfeits the telling detail. It is scholarly, lively, quotable, up-to-date, and fun.""--Hilary Mantel, author of the bestselling Thomas Cromwell trilogy