Book excerpt: Translators have invented alphabets, helped build languages and written dictionaries. They have contributed to the emergence of national literatures, the dissemination of knowledge and the spread of religions. Importers of foreign cultural values and key players at some of the great moments of history, translators and interpreters have played a determining role in the development of their societies and have been fundamental to the unfolding of intellectual history itself. Published under the auspices of the International Federation of Translators (FIT), Translators through History is organized around nine themes that illustrate the main areas in which translators have distinguished themselves through the ages. Nearly fifty scholars from twenty different countries have helped to compile this survey, which takes the reader through Europe, the Americas, and into Africa, India and China.