Book of Books: A Biography of the King James Bible, 1611-2011 - Hardcover

Melvyn Bragg is a writer and broadcaster. His novels include The Hired Man, for which he won the Time/Life Silver Pen Award, Without a City Wall, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, The Soldier's Return, winner of the WHSmith Literary Award, A Son of War and Crossing the Lines, both of which were longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, A Place in England, which was longlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize, and most recently Grace and Mary. He has also written several works of non-fiction, including The Book of Books about the King James Bible. He lives in London and Cumbria.

It is difficult to see how this book could be bettered; Bragg's narrative is sweeping, his prose dramatic, his enthusiasm infectious. * Independent on Sunday * 'Naturally Bragg pays eloquent homage to the literary grandeur of the scriptures that shaped his own outlook. But this heartfelt and far-reaching tribute makes its special mark in tracing the links between the KJB and the revolutions in science, politics and society'. * Independent * Bragg's tribute is of value because he has an aptitude for storytelling. He is breezily readable where other studies can feel dense and recondite. His turn of phrase is dramatic. Bragg's prose reverberates with scriptural certainty. Mostly this is an affectionate book. * Henry Hitchings, Observer * 'We are in Melvyn Bragg's debt for presenting us with an echo-chamber of sounds from the world's most long-lasting English book, in an eventful and deeply personal journey through four centuries of history'. * Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years * Bragg is 'our most trusted intellectual interpreter'. * David Sexton, Evening Standard * 'As popular history, this is great stuff'. * Scotsman * 'Vivid and accessible'. * Scotsman * 'Bragg takes a well known tale and tells it with easy eloquence'. * Scotland on Sunday * I am inclined to accept his final word: that the KJB's impact "has been immeasurable and it is not over yet". * John Cornwell, Financial Times * What gives this book its particular power, beyond Bragg's own reputation as a broadcaster, novelist and one of our foremost public intellectuals, is that he separates the importance of the King James Bible from the role of Christianity itself. Bragg tells the history of the King James with the vigour and pace of a storyteller rather than the dry precision of an academic. * Independent * 'Bragg's strengths as a novelist yield an account that is personal and imaginative, full of excitement and energy...I have never read an account of the Bible quite so compelling'. * David Crystal, The New Statesman *