The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions

KAREN ARMSTRONG is the author of numerous books on religion, including The Case for God, A History of God, The Battle for God, Holy War, Islam, Buddha, and Fields of Bloos, as well as a memoir, The Spiral Staircase. Her work has been translated into forty-five languages. In 2008 she was awarded the TED Prize and began working with TED on the Charter for Compassion, created online by the general public, crafted by leading thinkers in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. It was launched globally in the fall of 2009. Also in 2008, she was awarded the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal. In 2013, she received the British Academy’s inaugural Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Transcultural Understanding.

"A splendid book. . . . Lucid, highly readable. . . . Relevant to a world still embroiled in military conflict and sectarian hatreds." —The New York Times

"Masterful. . . . Stimulating. . . . A tour de force."—The Christian Science Monitor

"The Great Transformation is Armstrong at her best—translating and distilling complex history into lucid prose. . . . Her call to rededicate our religious selves to compassion, other-directed love and service is downright rousing." —The Washington Post

"Remarkable and persuasive." —The Independent

"Perhaps her most ambitious work to date. . . . Thoroughly researched and readable." —The San Francisco Chronicle