The Horse: A Galloping History of Humanity

by Timothy C. Winegard Narrated by Sean Patrick Hopkins

Overview

A Next Big Idea Club Must-Read Book

From New York Times bestselling author of The Mosquito, the incredible story of how the horse shaped human history

Timothy C. Winegard's The Horse is an epic history unlike any other. Its story begins more than 5,500 years ago on the windswept grasslands of the Eurasian Steppe; when one human tamed one horse, an unbreakable bond was forged and the future of humanity was instantly rewritten, placing the reins of destiny firmly in human hands.

Since that pivotal day, the horse has carried the history of civilizations on its powerful back. For millennia it was the primary mode of transportation, an essential farming machine, a steadfast companion, and a formidable weapon of war. Possessing a unique combination of size, speed, strength, and stamina, the horse dominated every facet of human life and shaped the very scope of human ambition. And we still live among its galloping shadows.

Horses revolutionized the way we hunted, traded, traveled, farmed, fought, worshipped, and interacted. They fundamentally reshaped the human genome and the world's linguistic map. They determined international borders, molded cultures, fueled economies, and built global superpowers. They decided the destinies of conquerors and empires. And they were vectors of lethal disease and contributed to lifesaving medical innovations. Horses even inspired architecture, invention, furniture, and fashion. From the thundering cavalry charges of Alexander the Great to the streets of New York during the Great Manure Crisis of 1894 and beyond, horses have shaped both the grand arc of history and our everyday lives.

Driven by fascinating revelations and fast-paced storytelling, The Horse is a riveting narrative of this noble animal's unrivaled and enduring reign across human history. To know the horse is to understand the world.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for The Horse:

"In this epic saga of the horse and human history, Winegard has researched deeply, written vividly, and made new connections about trade, agricultural production, transportation, and war. The horse has been integral to every point in civilization, and this grand narrative blazes new trails for experts and readers." —Tim Cook, bestselling author of Vimy: The Battle and the Legend, The Fight for History, and The Good Allies

“They say that dogs are humankind’s best friend, but as Timothy Winegard makes clear in this sweeping book, it’s the horse that truly deserves that title—and not just that one. Horses were revolutionary political allies, tireless explorers, and our deadliest weapons of war as well. And if we've come so far, it’s only because the horse has carried us here, and this book masterfully maps each stage in that 5500-year epic journey.”—Sam Kean, author of The Icepick Surgeon and The Disappearing Spoon

“A thorough, comprehensive look at the horse across time and space. . . . Everything you ever wanted to know about the genus Equus.” —Kirkus

“A panoramic account of the horse, from its origins some 57 million years ago to its eventual pairing with humans to forge ‘the most dominant animal coalition ever witnessed.’ . . . Winegard gives ample time and space to laying out the historical contexts in which the horse was a central actor, all such contexts making for a book whose revelations about the once all-powerful human-horse dyad will continue to surprise.” —Booklist

"Mankind invented and advanced the modern world, but horses invented and advanced mankind....And Winegard, a historian, argues it's because horses keep us tethered to our most elemental selves." —Reader's Digest

Kirkus Reviews

2024-05-02
Everything you ever wanted to know about the genus Equus.

Until the rise of the automobile, humans were dependent on horses for transportation, “so paramount and pivotal to human society that we base our units of mechanical energy or engine output on horsepower.” Winegard, author of The Mosquito, takes a long view of the horse’s fortunes, suggesting that had it not been for human intervention, horses might well have gone extinct, with many former species now reduced to the common horse, Equus caballus, along with a small population of Przewalski’s horse, Equus ferus przewalskii. (For fans of genetics, one distinction is that the latter has 66 chromosomes against the former’s 64.) The author takes a kitchen-sink approach to his subject, with sometimes not quite digested and repetitive stocks of data and detail piled up on his pages. Even so, he turns in some good stories, such as the unfortunate choice of the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great to tangle with the Scythian horse masters of the Eurasian steppe, who likely turned his skull into a drinking bowl for his trouble. Another intriguing element is Winegard’s account of how the horse returned to the Americas, where it had first evolved but, after crossing over the Bering land bridge into Asia, disappeared. Brought by the Spanish, the horse occasioned the rise of wide-ranging Indigenous warrior cultures on both continents. Perhaps most meaningful to the sensitive horse lover will be the author’s look at the use of horses in World Wars I and II, with appalling losses that far surpassed those of humans: 8 million of 16 million horses in the Great War died, “the bloodiest conflict for horses in the history of warfare.”

Sometimes weighed down by too-abundant detail, but a thorough, comprehensive look at the horse across time and space.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160276861
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	07/30/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged