Publisher's Synopsis
Imagine that there was an ancient code of conduct, widely forgotten in modern times, which nonetheless lurked under the surface of our society and shaped our most fundamental habits: from the nature of sexual guilt, to the concept of weekends. Imagine it had begun with an obscure group of tribes 3,000 years ago, and exploded out to became central in the spread of Judaism, the rise of Christianity and the nature of Islam; that it went far beyond religion, and inspired masterpieces such as King Lear, and social upheavals such as the French Revolution and the modern trade union movement; that it was behind the scientific ambitions of Isaac Newton, and the activism of Martin Luther King Jr; that it continues to influence today's most powerful political issues and social habits. Imagination has little to do with it; this is, in fact, the story of the Ten Commandments that David Bodanis brings thrillingly to life.
In ten chapters, naturally, he explores the roots and enduring forces behind each commandment, showing how they grew and spread and came to eventually influence so much of the modern world. Ultimately, each is an amalgam of rich human stories and dramas, which in Bodanis's skilled hands are memorably told. The Ten Commandments is not about religion, but about how the concepts that are the basis of those famous commandments underpin the history of human civilization - East and West, religious and secular. Among them are Louis XIV's 'divine right of kings', medieval jurists' concept of 'innocent until proven guilty' and Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
