All the nations that have ever lived have left their footsteps in the sand” - writes Norman Davies. “The traces fade with every tide, the echoes grow faint, the images are fractured, the human material is atomised and recycled. But if we know where to look, there is always a remnant, a remainder, an irreducible residue.” In this brilliant, beautifully written book, Davies recovers those scattered vestiges of dead kingdoms, tracing the skeins that link modern political realities with ancient history. "Vanished Kingdoms"is a book about memory and loss, a journey down some of the least fashionable byways of European history.

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