Zamenhof

She only got so far as downloading lessons on Duolingo, but its creator, Ludwik Zamenhof, gets a chapter in the book.

But Bakewell sees the dream of a universal language, and Zamenhof’s less well-known effort to create a universal religion called “Homaranismo” — Esperanto for “humanism” — as connected with the centuries-long humanist project.

Zamenhof in the hopes of bringing a common auxiliary language to the world.

Zamenhof’s project to create Esperanto.

Some of Lebrecht’s transitions from one vignette to the next flow particularly well: His account of the revival of ancient Hebrew under the auspices of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, meant to foster a Jewish national consciousness, is aptly followed and contrasted by the depiction of the near-simultaneous creation of Esperanto by the Polish idealist Eliezer Ludwig Zamenhof, who strove to create a universal idiom that would encourage greater understanding among peoples.