The Years of Rice and Salt : A Novel

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grandest work yet, the acclaimed storyteller constructs a world vastly different from the one we know. . . .A thoughtful, magisterial alternatehistory from one of science fictions most important writers.The New York Times Book ReviewIt is the fourteenth century and one of the most apocalyptic events in human history is set to occurthe coming of the Black Death. History teaches us that a third of Europes population was destroyed. But what if the plague had killed 99 percent of the population instead? How would the world have changed? This is a look at the history thatcould have beenone that stretches across centuries, sees dynasties and nations rise and crumble, and spans horrible famine and magnificent innovation.Through the eyes of soldiers and kings, explorers and philosophers, slaves and scholars, Robinson navigates a world where Buddhism and Islam are the most influential and practiced religions, while Christianity is merely ahistorical footnote. Probing the most profound questions as only he can, Robinson shines his extraordinary light on the place of religion, culture, powerand even lovein this bold New World.Exceptional and engrossing.New York PostAmbitious . . . ingenious.Newsday