This sumptuously illustrated book with its magical mix of history and travelogue will provide an unforgettable portrait of India.

In this lavishly illustrated companion to his BBC TV series, Michael Wood weaves a spellbinding narrative out of the 10,000-year history of India. Home today to more than a fifth of the world’s population, the subcontinent gave birth to the oldest and most influential civilization on Earth, to four world religions, and to the world’s largest democracy. Now, as India bids to become a global giant, Michael sets out to trace the roots of India’s present in the incredible riches of her past.

From the Khyber Pass and the Himalayas to the tropical jungles of India’s Deep South, this original and striking survey of Indian history provides vivid portraits of India’s regions and cultures, and new insights into some of history’s greatest figures: the Buddha and Ashoka, Samudragupta and Akbar the Great, Nehru and Gandhi. It explores the ways in which Indian ideas and inventions have shaped the history of the world, and shows how some of ancient India’s conclusions about the nature of civilization have lost none of their relevance for our own times.

Dazzling colour photographs capture an extraordinary spectrum of landscapes, architectural splendours, customs, rituals and festivals. This sumptuously illustrated book from one of Britain’s best-loved historians and broadcasters is a magical mixture of history and travelogue, and an unforgettable portrait of India, past, present — and future.

邁剋爾•伍德（Michael Wood）

1948年生於英國， 畢業於牛津大學奧瑞爾學院曆史係，身兼曆史學傢、紀錄片製片人、主持人、作傢等多重身份，英國皇傢曆史協會成員，桑德蘭大學名譽博士。他製作並主持瞭超過80部電視紀錄片，並有多部講述英國曆史的專著，在英美等地深受歡迎。

代錶作有：電視記錄片《印度的故事》、《曆史鐵道大旅行》、《追尋文明的起源》、《亞曆山大東徵傳奇》、《神話與英雄大觀》等；曆史著作《追尋中世紀》、《追尋英國》、《追尋莎士比亞》等。