Tim Cornwell: 12 Books That Changed The World
Football's first rule book was named as one of 12 works that changed the world yesterday - alongside the King James Bible and Darwin's Origin of Species.
Melvyn Bragg revealed the list as the basis of a new TV show, the follow-up to his last literary series, The Adventure of English. The texts listed range from the first folio of William Shakespeare's works in 1623, to the patent for Richard Arkwright's spinning machine, from 1769.
But the Scottish historian Tom Devine ridiculed the titles yesterday as "Anglo-centric and eccentric." It ignored historic milestones from Europe and America, he said.
Filming has begun for the four-part series, 12 Books that Changed the World, that will be rolled out in April next year.
The idea is that books are as historically powerful in their own way as invasions, assassinations, or major natural disasters, said an ITV1 spokesman.
"The series aims to show that the lives we lead have been formed as often as not by a single book. It was an idea that Melvyn had about seven years ago, and he left it on the back burner. He didn't really know how it would play on screen."
But the success of The Adventure of English persuaded him to choose another literary topic. The South Bank Show presenter's signature series last year was The Story of ITV.
Catherine Lockerbie, the director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said: "Melvyn Bragg's central thesis is right and it is one the book festival demonstrates every summer: ideas drive the world forwards and ideas are most beautifully, powerfully and resonantly contained in books."
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Also included is Married Love by family planning campaigner Marie Stopes. Published in 1918, it was the UK's first sex manual and was branded obscene by the Church and the medical establishment.
The text of William Wilberforce's speech to parliament in 1789, beginning his campaign for the abolition of slavery, is featured along with Mary Wollstonecraft's 18th-century feminist treatise A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
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Prof Devine questioned the inclusion of the patent for Arkwright's spinning machine, which transformed the production of textiles and helped usher in the Industrial Revolution. He said James Watt's patent, in the same year, for a separate condenser on a steam engine, was a far better choice.
He questioned why the Magna Carta was chosen and not the Declaration of Arbroath. Both are said to have inspired the US Declaration of Independence, that also missed out. "There's one or two interesting things in there, but it's Anglo-centric, eccentric and Braggian.
What about the classical thinkers of Greece and Rome?" he said.
Melvyn Bragg revealed the list as the basis of a new TV show, the follow-up to his last literary series, The Adventure of English. The texts listed range from the first folio of William Shakespeare's works in 1623, to the patent for Richard Arkwright's spinning machine, from 1769.
But the Scottish historian Tom Devine ridiculed the titles yesterday as "Anglo-centric and eccentric." It ignored historic milestones from Europe and America, he said.
Filming has begun for the four-part series, 12 Books that Changed the World, that will be rolled out in April next year.
The idea is that books are as historically powerful in their own way as invasions, assassinations, or major natural disasters, said an ITV1 spokesman.
"The series aims to show that the lives we lead have been formed as often as not by a single book. It was an idea that Melvyn had about seven years ago, and he left it on the back burner. He didn't really know how it would play on screen."
But the success of The Adventure of English persuaded him to choose another literary topic. The South Bank Show presenter's signature series last year was The Story of ITV.
Catherine Lockerbie, the director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said: "Melvyn Bragg's central thesis is right and it is one the book festival demonstrates every summer: ideas drive the world forwards and ideas are most beautifully, powerfully and resonantly contained in books."
...
Also included is Married Love by family planning campaigner Marie Stopes. Published in 1918, it was the UK's first sex manual and was branded obscene by the Church and the medical establishment.
The text of William Wilberforce's speech to parliament in 1789, beginning his campaign for the abolition of slavery, is featured along with Mary Wollstonecraft's 18th-century feminist treatise A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
...
Prof Devine questioned the inclusion of the patent for Arkwright's spinning machine, which transformed the production of textiles and helped usher in the Industrial Revolution. He said James Watt's patent, in the same year, for a separate condenser on a steam engine, was a far better choice.
He questioned why the Magna Carta was chosen and not the Declaration of Arbroath. Both are said to have inspired the US Declaration of Independence, that also missed out. "There's one or two interesting things in there, but it's Anglo-centric, eccentric and Braggian.
What about the classical thinkers of Greece and Rome?" he said.