Civilizations

An ambitious and highly entertaining novel of revisionist history from the author of the international bestseller HHhH, Laurent Binet¿s Civilizations is nothing less than a strangely believable counterfactual history of the modern world, fizzing with ideas about colonization, empire building, and the eternal human quest for domination. It is an electrifying novel by one of Europe¿s most exciting writers.

C. 1000 CE: Erik the Red¿s daughter heads south from Greenland
1492: Columbus does not discover America
1531: The Incas invade Europe

Freydis is the leader of a band of Viking warriors who get as far as Panama. Nobody knows what became of them . . .

Five hundred years later, Christopher Columbus is sailing for the Americas, dreaming of gold and conquest. Even after he is captured by the Ta¿s, his faith in his superiority and his mission is unshaken.

Thirty-nine years after that, Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor, arrives i