The Paper Trail: An Unexpected History of a Revolutionary

The Paper Trail: An Unexpected History of a Revolutionary Invention

A sweeping, richly detailed history that tells the fascinating story of how paperâ€”the simple Chinese invention of two thousand years agoâ€”wrapped itself around our world, humankindâ€™s most momentous ideas imprinted on its surface.
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The emergence of paper in the imperial court of Han China brought about a revolution in the transmission of knowledge and ideas, allowing religions, philosophies and propaganda to spread with ever greater ease. The first writing surface sufficiently cheap, portable and printable for books, pamphlets and journals to be mass-produced and distributed widely, paper opened the way for an unprecedented, ongoing dialogue between individuals and between communities across continents, oceans and time.
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The Paper Trail explores how the new substance was used to solidify social and political systems that influenced China even into our own time. We see how paper made possible the spread of the then new religions of Buddhism and Manichaeism into Japan, Korea and Vietnam . . . how it enabled theologians, scientists and artists to build the vast and signally intellectual empire of the Abbasid Caliphate and embed the Koran in popular culture . . . how paper was carried along the Silk Road by merchants and missionaries, finally reaching Europe in the late thirteenth century . . . and how, once established in Europe, along with the printing press, paper played an essential role in the three great foundations of Western modernity: the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution.
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Here is a dramatic, comprehensively researched, vividly written story populated by holy men and scholars, warriors and poets, rulers and ordinary men and womenâ€”an essential story brilliantly told in this luminous work of history.
Country USA
Manufacturer Knopf
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2016-03-22
UnitCount 1
Format Deckle Edge
EANs 9780307271662

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Knopf
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2016-03-22
UnitCount	1
Format	Deckle Edge
EANs	9780307271662

The Paper Trail: An Unexpected History of a Revolutionary Invention

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