Sapiens : A Graphic History Volume 2 - The Pillars of Civilisation

Sapiens: A Graphic History - The Pillars of Civilisation tells the story of how Homo sapiens converted from nomads to settlers, and started working harder and harder without getting a better life in return. Find out how wheat took over the world; how an unlikely marriage between a god and a bureaucrat created the first empires; how war, famine, disease and inequality became a part of the human condition; and why we might only have ourselves to blame.

Sounds gloomy? Not with this cast of entertaining characters, continuing the wild ride they started in Volume 1. Yuval, Zoe, Prof. Saraswati, Cindy and Bill, Detective Lopez, and Dr. Fiction travel the length and breadth of human history, this time to investigate how the Agricultural Revolution changed society forever. The cunning Mephisto shows them how to entrap humans with plants, King Hammurabi lays down the law, and Confucius explains harmonious society. Guest appearances are made by Thomas Jefferson, Scarlet O'Hara, Margaret Thatcher and John Lennon. The origins of modern farming are told through Elizabethan tragedy, the changing fortunes of domesticated plants and animals are tracked in the columns of the Daily Business News, and the history of inequality is scouted out in a superhero detective story.

This graphic series is a radical, witty and colourful retelling of the story of humankind, adapted from Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, which has sold over 21 million copies in 65 languages worldwide. Volume 2 can be read as a standalone or as a follow-up to Volume 1, and is designed to captivate adults and young adults who don't usually engage with science and history. If you want to know why we are all trapped inside the dreams of dead people, this is your ideal book.