A Little History of the World: Illustrated Edition

Obviously this book is very dated but I like the way it puts world history in roughly sequential context. Believe it or not, I hadn't read a world history survey like this since high school and this was more comprehensive than that. (yikes!)

There seem to be some huge gaps in the way history is taught in the US (or at least the 90s education I received.). For example, I don't recall ever learning more about World War I than Ferdinand's death was the catalyst. Not the parties involved, resolution, even Wilson's intervention. All learnt after the fact.

I remember randomly spending a month on the French Revolution in a literature class. I could go on and on about the imbalance, but this little book is a nice survey of major world events up to the outbreak of WWII. It is, however, extremely euro-centric.

This popular book has been around for many years in over a dozen languages but it has only recently been translated to English. (The reason why is explained in the preface.) Mr. Gombrich originally published this book in Vienna in 1936. It is written for a younger audience which results in a clear, engaging narrative. There are 40 short chapters which include sections on: Ancient Greece and Egypt, the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Jesus, Mohammed, the Middle Ages, the Crusades, Charlemagne, Martin Luther, Napoleon, and so forth up to World War I. Then in the final chapter, the author talks about his experiences during World War II and his hopes for peace. It is a fascinating book, covers a lot of ground, and made many areas of history much clearer for me to understand. I highly recommend it to anyone curious about world history.