Bible sales have doubled since 2019 - why are so many people in the West turning back to Christianity?

The Bible was never a single book. Written and rewritten over a thousand years, it has been read as poetry, law, allegory and prayer. Karen Armstrong, the world's foremost religious historian, tells its extraordinary life story, and shows that reading it literally is a surprisingly modern idea.

'The best sort of popularizing: there is no sacrifice of integrity and no dumbing down.' Edward Norman, Literary Review



Karen Armstrong is one of the world's foremost commentators on religious affairs. Her bestselling books include Islam: A Short History; Buddha; A History of God; Through the Narrow Gate; The Spiral Staircase and The Great Transformation, also published in paperback by Atlantic Books in 2007.



Characteristically wise and searching... Armstrong leads us through the story [of the Bible] at unflagging speed... fascinating.



A fascinating exploration of the origins of the most widely circulated and influential book in history.



There could not be a better guide [to the Bible] than Karen Armstrong... Her great achievement is that, as well as leaving you with a clearer, more historically accurate picture as to what precisely the Bible is (and isn't), she also makes you want to go back and read it again with fresh eyes.