While reading a recent book about philosophies of education, I ran into a great chapter that really laid out the sociocultural situation of the entire industrial revolution. It was fascinating, and tied into some other stuff that I’ve been interested in. It made me realize that I don’t know enough about the history of civilization/the world/humanity, and want to get a general knowledge of how we got from drawing on cave walls to the internet.
Basically, I want a “history of the world”/history of civilization/general “World History” book that covers it all. I want it to be detailed enough to give me a working knowledge of how everything went down, but not so detailed that it gets bogged down in particular eras or events. I’d like the book to work in parallel, bouncing around - in other words, I’d like it to juxtapose developments and movements and so on between different cultures, so that at any given moment in history I’d like to have a general idea of what’s going on in Europe and Asia, what’s going on at the same time up in what will one day become Russia, and also what’s going on over in what will eventually become america.
History buffs, there has to be a token “it book” that fits this description. Help me out!
VCO3 - I’ve read a few of your posts and have seen that you have your snarky moments, so am trying to be cautious here. You already got the expected Mel Brooks reference; I am going to head in a other direction;
By Larry Gonick. Yeah, yeah, it is told in comic-book form. But you know what? It is very well done - he has his facts straight, he handles astronomy, paleontology, anthropology, sociology and a variety of other -ologies exceedingly well and the whole thing flows nicely. This first book covers the Big Bang up through Alexander the Great and I have read it a few times - really interesting and worthwhile. I have V2 on order.
I have read my share of in-depth histories - Guns, Germs & Steel, a variety of histories of ancient Rome, the Renaissance, the Revolutionary Wars in the U.S. and France - tons of stuff. I find the Comic Book History to be worthwhile and I recommend it heartily.
Gonick’s Cartoon History of the Universe was exactly what I thought of when I saw the thread title.
Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t cite it for a doctoral thesis. But for a decent, all-encompassing view of the world beginning at, well, the beginning, it’s a good one. And he includes full citations (in cartoon form!) for each chapter.
Currently there are three volumes out there.
Vol. 1 - From the Big Bang to Alexander the Great
Vol. 2 - From the Springtime of China to the Fall of Rome
Vol. 3 - From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance
As well as other more specific topics.
Well worth reading for those casually interested in getting a feel for how things got to where they are.
I’m not sure this is what you’re looking for, but I enjoyed Asimov’s Chronology of the World which is a history of the world in chronological order spelling out each major event until WWII. I don’t know if it’s the kind of book that one generally sits down and reads (though I did) but it’s a great reference. You may also be interested in Asimov’s Chronology of Science and Discovery though, judging from Amazon’s price, this has become a rarity.
For real books full of text, the ones I recommend are both British, well-received, and issued in many editions so they should be easily available cheaply.
All single volume histories suffer from huge numbers of compromises and biases. Nobody can know everything and areas of the world other than western Europe and the U.S. tend to get slighted. I’ve heard of some newer books that purport to address the latter, but I haven’t read them and I can’t even find their titles.
These are going to be long, fat books and I would suggest dipping in to them first if you can find a copy before buying. Unless you and the author are compatible, you’ll never get through a fraction of the subject.
Daniel Boorstin’s grand trilogy - The Discoverers, The Creators, and the Seekers - does more bouncing around since it is topic oriented rather than chronological or geographical - but he is also Eurocentric in view, although like the others he does not complete slight other cultures.
It’s not exactly what you’re looking for, and it’s really out of date (it was written in 1935), but it’s still a really fun and easy read. Try E.H. Gombrich’s “A Little History of the World”.
I just finished a one-volume history of humankind last month. It was extremely readable. No kidding, it actually covered from cave paintings to the internet. It was written in the last couple of years. (I got it in paperback.)
I honestly think it is exactly what you’re looking for. For me, it helped fill in many of the gaps I’ve had in my knowledge of world history.
I’ll look up the title/author when I get home tonight.
James Burke’s three series of Connections. Also, The Day the Universe Changed. All of them fascinating, compulsive watching.
The first three are available on DVD (though unfortunately expensive). The fourth is also available, but at a truly demented price that makes it pretty much unfeasible for non-institutional buyers.
The book is somewhat the traditional white male version of history. And while the book is very readable, it’s also somewhat simplistic. It actually reads like a Grisham novel. Nevertheless, the author, a retired Penn history professor, is eminently qualified.
