{"product_id":"the-invention-of-yesterday-a-50000-year-history-of-human-culture-conflict-and-connection-9781541706224","title":"The Invention of Yesterday: A 50,000-Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and Connection","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn this \"terrific\" (\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e) book, an award-winning author tells the story of how humans invented history, from the Stone Age to the Virtual Age \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Traveling across millennia and cultures, \u003ci\u003e The Invention of Yesterday\u003c\/i\u003e argues that world history is a narrative we're constantly inventing. Fifty thousand years ago, we roamed the world as countless autonomous bands of hunter-gatherers, each one telling itself a story of the world with itself at the center. We used narratives to organize for survival and explain the unfathomable, and these stories evolved into the bases for cultures, empires, and civilizations. When disparate narratives collided, the encounters produced everything from confusion, chaos, and war to cultural efflorescence, religious awakenings, and intellectual breakthroughs. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In this updated edition with a new postscript, Tamim Ansary uses insightful, vivid stories to illuminate how our propensity to invent a shared symbolic universe has shaped our journey from the Stone Age to the Virtual Age.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e PublicAffairs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/24\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781541706224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 464\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.25h x 5.50w x 1.12d","brand":"Tamim Ansary","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52136432763061,"sku":"9781541706224","price":18.69,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_c2262a07-c0a3-4ff4-a551-d5b8122f5440.jpg?v=1767114534","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-invention-of-yesterday-a-50000-year-history-of-human-culture-conflict-and-connection-9781541706224","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}