The Life Millennium: The 100 Most Important Events and People of the Past 1000 Years

The flush toilet and the discovery of the potato. The Declaration of Independence and the invention of plastic. The first novel and man's first steps on the moon. These are just some of the 100 most important events, discoveries, and magnificent moments of the past 1,000 years selected -- and ranked -- by the editors of Life in this highly readable and lushly illustrated tour of the millennium. Working with dozens of experts around the world and based on the magazine's fall 1997 special double issue, Life's editors have put together an encyclopedic and entertaining account of human progress from 1001 to the present. The two separate rankings -- the 100 Most Important Events and the 100 Most Important People -- include many surprises, along with some of this millennium's best-known personalities and developments. This is social history as never seen before, a book to last for the next 1,000 years.