VOICES FROM THE PAST: A Year of Great Quotations

A treasure trove for history buffs, Marsh fleshes out the context behind famous quotations associated with each day of the year, sending us back and forth in history from the time of the Ancient Egyptians to the world we live in today. 'You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war.' (25th April 1898) newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst urges war artist Frederick Remington to stay in Cuba while Hearst publishes lurid tales of an imaginary conflict. 'I am tasting the stars!' (4th August 1693). The monk Dom Pérignon tests the result of his new techniques in the making of a sparkling wine, and champagne is born. 'I shall hear in heaven.' (26th March 1827), the profoundly deaf Ludwig van Beethoven dies leaving us with those poignant last words. 'It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.' (10th April 1919), Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata lives up to his own dictum by dying on his feet in a hail of bullets. 'From the sublime to the ridiculous is only a step.' (18th October 1812), Napoleon's all-conquering Grande Armée begins its slow and ignominious retreat from Moscow. From 1st January 404AD the last gladiator fight: 'Hail, Caesar! They who are about to die salute you.', 2nd January 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella capture Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain: 'You do well to weep like a woman for what you could not defend like a man' to 31st December 192AD: Emperor Commodus is assassinated: 'A befuddled drunkard shall not outwit a woman deadly sober.' The book is a real feast to enjoy day after day, the text containing hundreds of quotes in all about 1,200. Morsels of history to tempt you day after day, a hefty tome of 680pp with pagemarker.