Phaidon Press announced today that David Byrne, who recently returned to Broadway in his show American Utopia, will release a new book in March 2022. Titled A History of the World (In Dingbats), the book features dozens of Byrne's original drawings that he created during his time in lockdown. According to a Vulture report, the drawings "evoke the complex, global systems the pandemic cast in bright light."

Byrne previously presented his "dingbat" drawings in an online exhibition with New York's Pace Gallery in October 2020. In an essay published by the Pace Gallery, Bryne explains his definition of the term "dingbat:" "I was thinking of the little drawings that are used in The New Yorker and other publications to visually break up imposing blocks of type… I got a bit carried away and made them quite a bit more elaborate than the typical dingbat."

Byrne is best known as a songwriter and lead singer for the American new wave band Talking Heads. His theatrical concert American Utopia originally ran on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre from October 4, 2019-February 16, 2020, and reopened at the St. James Theatre October 17 following a month of previews. The show features choreography and musical staging by Annie-B Parson, as well as songs from the album American Utopia among other Talking Heads classics.