The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World — and Globalization Began (Simon & Schuster, 2021)

Please join us on Thursday, August 5, at 5 p.m. Eastern, for a 2021 History Book Festival virtual event with Valerie Hansen, author of The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World — and Globalization Began (Simon & Schuster, 2021). This event is free but registration is required.

About the book
People tend to believe that the years immediately prior to AD 1000 were lacking in any major cultural developments or geopolitical encounters — that the Europeans hadn’t yet reached North America and the farthest feat of sea travel was the Viking invasion of Britain. But how do we explain the presence of blond-haired people in Maya temple murals at Chichén Itzá, Mexico? Did the Vikings find their way to the Americas during the height of the Maya empire? Drawing on nearly 30 years of research, historian Valerie Hansen argues that bold explorations and daring trade missions connected all of the world’s societies by the end of the first millennium.

About the author
Valerie Hansen is the Stanley Woodward Professor of History at Yale, where she teaches Chinese and world history. Her other books include The Silk Road: A New History and The Open Empire: A History of China to 1800. Hansen, who traveled to some 20 countries to research her book, promises to take attendees on a visual “tour around the world in the year 1000” during her presentation.

How to attend the online event
All registered attendees will receive a follow-up email from “LibCal” with Zoom log-in information. If you don’t receive this email after registering, please check your SPAM folder. If you still can’t locate the email, please contact info@historybookfestival.org.

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes. Each copy purchased comes with a signed archival bookplate.

About the Festival
With the help of our presenting sponsors—Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices I Gallo Realty—as well as our community partners and volunteers, the 2021 History Book Festival will, once again, be full of great discussions online with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction.

Our 2021 Festival will follow last year’s format: allowing you to bring history home—and stay safe! We are extremely grateful for the virtual venue and assistance in event promotion provided by the Lewes Public Library, in conjunction with the Delaware Division of Libraries and Sussex County Libraries. Thanks also to Browseabout Books, our official bookseller, and the Cape Gazette, our media partner.