****NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A* * n extraordinary investigation of a critical moment in the evolution of religious thought **—from the *New York Times* bestselling author of *A History of God* and *The Spiral Staircase* ** “A splendid book…. Lucid, highly readable…. Relevant to a world still embroiled in military conflict and sectarian hatreds.” — *The New York Times* ** In the ninth century BCE, events in four regions of the civilized world led to the rise of religious traditions that have endured to the present day—development of Confucianism and Daoism in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, monotheism in Israel, and philosophical rationalism in Greece. Armstrong, one of our most prominent religious scholars, examines how these traditions began in response to the violence of their time. Studying figures as diverse as the Buddha and Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah, Armstrong reveals how these still enduring philosophies can help address our contemporary problems.