Poets and playwrights, novels and novelists, publishing coups and personal stories, literature as we know it has been shaped by the key exponents of the craft, quirks of fate, meetings, love affairs and moments of despair and death. Characters such as Atticus Finch, Lily Bart, and Harry Potter have carried us through the century, while the discussion still rages on about the Da Vinci Code. Here is the world of literature in a nutshell, each vital and intriguing moment placed in it's historic and cultural context creating an intelligent, accessible guide to the writings of the world.