Historian, novelist, and essayist Ronald Wright’s reach is wide, with award-winning books published in 16 languages and more than 40 countries. Born in England to Canadian and British parents, Ronald studied archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge University. He spent years in Mexico and South America, Africa, and the South Seas, before finally settling on Salt Spring Island.
A Short History of Progress (2004), which examines humankind’s increasingly precarious “experiment” with civilization, was the best-selling book in the CBC Massey Lecture Series‘ 50-year history, winning the 2005 Libris Award for Nonfiction Book of the Year and chosen as one of the Literary Review of Canada‘s 25 most influential books. Martin Scorsese’s Surviving Progress, a documentary film based on the book, premiered in 2011.
More information about Ronald Wright is available here
Books
- On Fiji Islands (1987)
- Time Among the Maya: Travels in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico (1989)
- Stolen Continents: The “New World” Through Indian Eyes Since 1492 (1992)
- Home and Away (1993)
- A Scientific Romance (1997)
- Henderson’s Spear (2001)
- Cut Stones and Crossroads: A Journey in Peru (2001)
- A Short History of Progress (2004)
- What is America?: A Short History of the New World Order (2008)
- The Gold Eaters (2015)