Empire Of The Word DVD

A series that traces the impact of reading and writing over five thousand years of human history

Eight years in the making, Empire of the Word is a compelling look inside the act of reading and traces its impact on more than five thousand years of human history. Introduced and narrated by one of the world's great readers, Canadian writer Alberto Manguel, the series traces reading's origins; examines how we learn to read; exposes censors - attempts to prevent our reading; and finally, proposes what the future might hold for this most human of creative acts. Empire of the Word will tell us its narrative in a mesmerizing style. Each episode shares the history of reading by introducing us to the fascinating characters that populate the grand story. We meet Martin Luther being marched into Wartburg Castle in the Sixteenth Century, where he will translate the Bible into German for the first time. We are also introduced to contemporary characters such as Barbara Taylor, an adult illiterate living in Toronto and fighting to learn how to read. Some characters we meet live in danger, such as Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, whose writing has inflamed passions in the Indian sub-continent. Blending potent re-enactment with real life stories and illustrated with stock footage and powerful Computer Generated Images, the series is a dramatic and engaging look across the Empire of the Word.