Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man | 2006 | Karen Armstrong | Buy |
| 2 | The Qur’an: A Biography | 2006 | Karen Armstrong | Buy |
| 3 | Darwin’s Origin of Species: A Biography | 2006 | Karen Armstrong | Buy |
| 4 | On The Wealth of Nations | 2006 | Karen Armstrong | Buy |
| 5 | Homer’s The Iliad And The Odyssey | 2007 | Karen Armstrong | Buy |
| 6 | The Bible | 2007 | Karen Armstrong | Buy |
| 7 | The Qur’an | 2007 | Karen Armstrong | Buy |
| 8 | Darwin’s Origin of Species | 2007 | Karen Armstrong | Buy |
| 9 | Plato’s Republic | 2007 | Karen Armstrong | Buy |
| 10 | Clausewitz’s on War | 2007 | Karen Armstrong | Buy |
| 11 | Marx’s Das Kapital | 2007 | Karen Armstrong | Buy |
The Books That Changed the World series brought together leading writers to produce short, accessible volumes about history’s most important texts. Each book is less a plot summary than a cultural biography — the history of a book’s reception, influence, and continued relevance.
Armstrong’s contribution, The Qur’an: A Biography, fits naturally with her wider work on Islam and religious history. The other volumes in the series cover texts from Thomas Paine to Marx, Darwin to Homer, each written by an author with particular expertise in the relevant subject. The series as a whole makes a strong case for understanding the history of ideas through the books that shaped it.