In the tradition of small books that try to explain a lot (think
How the Irish Saved Civilization), John Man's
Alpha Beta is an excellent survey on the history of letters. They may have played a more dramatic role in the advancement of Western culture than most people realize: "The Greeks, so this argument runs, would not have been so influential but for the invention that fixed their writings, the invention that they named after its first two signs, alpha and beta--the alphabet." This opinion will no doubt ruffle a few feathers in the classics departments at universities, which have instructed students on the intellectual and literary achievements of the Greeks for generations. Man seems to challenge the idea that the Greeks offered something inherently worthwhile. "Possibly nothing of their oral genius would have been preserved but for a piece of astonishing good fortune. They just happened to live near one of the cultures that had stumbled on the alphabet, and they just happened to be at a crucial state in social evolution that made them open to its adoption." This is a fascinating argument, and Man makes it a compelling one, although it's also possible to believe the Greeks had the additional good fortune of producing a storyteller as good as Homer.
Most of the book is a well-told tale that runs a course from the first symbols pressed into clay tablets to the advent of the Internet--the Greeks are just a piece of it. The book covers the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Etruscans, and several other cultures in some detail. One of the most interesting sections discusses the Koreans, creators of "an alphabet that is about as far along the road towards perfection as any alphabet is likely to get." Man is a colloquial writer; reading Alpha Beta is like listening to a popular college professor lecture on his favorite topic. The complex and controversial scholarship on the alphabet becomes instantly accessible to nonexpert readers on these pages. Anyone interested in the power of words and the history of civilization will find Alpha Beta irresistible. --John Miller
The alphabet's worldwide diffusion can be compared to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, John Man proposes in his narrative search for "Alphabeticus Originalis."
Sweeping from one ancient culture to another, Man unearths archaeological finds, debates biblical myths and provides scientific evidence to support his theory of the alphabet's germination and development.
Using a highly accessible format sharper than the dull edge of the usual historical text, "Alpha Beta" traces its subject on a historical journey around the Mediterranean. Beginning with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and cuneiform, Man, a historian and travel writer, follows the evolution of letters from one great civilization to another.
Paying his respects to the early development of script in China and an especially practical Korean alphabet, Man drives into Sinai in his four-wheel drive to begin his study of the Israelites.
"What emerges in the Sinai wilderness--or the metaphorical wilderness--is a blueprint for group survival unprecedented in history."
The blueprint, Man explains, was based on monotheism and fixed commandments. And it worked because the laws were written in a simple script that did not require excessive knowledge: an alphabet.
In the Phoenicians, Man finds another people to support his hypothesis.
"These port peoples needed a good writing system if only to keep trade records. ... They were ripe for the alphabet, knowledge of which was slowly filtering outwards from its southern Palestine dispersal centre."
Similarly, the alphabet arrived in Greece "and attached itself to a society at a crucial stage in its evolution--a youngish culture ... with no apparent loyalty to an established writing system."
Quickly moving along the Mediterranean, a "land that must have seemed ripe for the plucking" is encountered. But before discussing the true founders of Rome, Man devotes several pages to the outrageous exploits of Thomas Dempster, a forgotten 17th-century Etruscan scholar and "hooligan."
While some of the details about Dempster are amusing, they provide one of several examples of extraneous material in an otherwise concise and effective approach to such an overwhelming idea.
Moving on to the Etruscan alphabet, Man picks up the pace and explains the possibility of a Phoenician or Greek influence. While many mysteries remain about the Etruscans' origins and their alphabet, their influence on a much better-known people and alphabet is hard to ignore.
Debunking the popular myth of Romulus as Rome's founder, Man points to archaeological research for "an account of Rome's origins that dignifies not the Romans but the Etruscans."
After tracing the expansion of the Roman language, Man reaches his limit with the introduction of Cyrillic and travels at breakneck speed to the present. From one chapter to the next, he goes from the Etruscans to the Soviets.
"Alpha Beta" should appeal to anyone with even a mild interest in ancient civilization and an affinity for language.
(Associated Press, BOOKS September 10, 2001)
"Using a highly accessible format sharper than the dull edge of the usually historical text, Alpha Beta traces its subject on a historical journey around the Mediterranean. Beginning with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and cuneiform, Man, a historian and travel writer, follows the evolution of letters from one great civilization to another.Alpha Beta should appeal to anyone with even a mild interest in ancient civilization and an affinity with language."(Associated Press)
