Status
Available
Publication
New Haven, Conn. ; London : Yale University Press, 2008.
Description
E. H. Gombrich's bestselling history of the world for young readers tells the story of mankind from the Stone Age to the atomic bomb, focusing not on small detail but on the sweep of human experience, the extent of human achievement, and the depth of its frailty. The product of a generous and humane sensibility, this timeless account makes intelligible the full span of human history. In forty concise chapters, Gombrich tells the story of man from the stone age to the atomic bomb. In between emerges a colorful picture of wars and conquests, grand works of art, and the spread and limitations of science. This is a text dominated not by dates and facts, but by the sweep of mankind's experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity's achievements and an acute witness to its frailties.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member waitingtoderail
A good idea executed with mediocrity. This is a general history of the world written for children, but it is entirely too Eurocentric - Eastern cultures are primarily discussed only in how they related to European powers, Native Americans are discussed only briefly - and when he gets to how they
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interacted with Europeans he says that it is "so shameful to Europeans" that he doesn't even want to talk about it, and Africa is hardly mentioned at all. A better version of this is waiting to happen. Show Less
LibraryThing member reedist
This is my favourite book of the last year - I'm pushing 50, my children are 6 and 8, and we all enjoyed it enormously – we couldn't wait to get to the end of each day and read the next chapter. It's intelligent Central European humanism, treating the reader as an equal and engaged partner. The
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title clearly sets out that it isn't comprehensive, but it is an excellent and very original introduction to some of the stories that are our past. Clifford Harper's black and white illustrations (looking like drawn woodcuts) are simple, yet often intensely moving, maybe in part because they have a flavour of the past about them. Show Less
LibraryThing member riida
i picked this up yesterday morning from my shelf on a whim. more than 30 hours later, i'm still reading and could not bring myself to put it down! a simple re-telling of the history of the world, or rather, largely of the western world, it is none the less marvelous and stirring. the last chapter,
memorable quotes:
"the history of the world is, sadly, not a pretty poem. it offers little variety, and it is nearly always the unpleasant things that are repeated, over and over again."
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specially, where the author recounts history as he himself has experienced. its history written for children, but should be required reading for adults.memorable quotes:
"the history of the world is, sadly, not a pretty poem. it offers little variety, and it is nearly always the unpleasant things that are repeated, over and over again."
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LibraryThing member edgeworth
I've been getting more interested in history lately, and what I've really wanted to read is a history book that covers the entire world - focusing not on one period of time, or one geographic area, but on the entire history of the entire world. That would obviously be a daunting book both to write
A lot of what we know about history we obtain from popular culture, associating it with a certain set of visual motifs (fashion, architecture, manners of speech etc.) The 1890s I associate with London in Victorian England; the 1870s and 1880s with the American West; the early 1800s with the Napoleonic Wars and Australian early settlement, and so on. The further back, the less I know, and the more likely I am to associate a period in time with one particular piece of art or popular culture; the early 1700s, for example, is Pirates of the Caribbean, the early 1600s the plays of Shakespeare, then there's that whole vague medieval era of knights and castles...
My point is we (or at least I) tend to associate certain time periods with certain places, and history books that focus on only one region reinforce that view. 1812, for example, was the time of Napoleon and the teething problems of American independency, but I have only a dim idea of what was occurring at the same time in Asia and Africa and India and so on. What I want is a book that slowly takes us through the ages and shows us how all these different people related to each other at the time; the shifting stages of human relationships. Any decent historian, of course, knows that history isn't about memorising dates, but rather about the way human society works and how we interact with each other. The precise date of a war is not remotely as important as why it was fought, who was fighting in it, and what people thought about it at the time.
I'm now four paragraphs in and I haven't mentioned the book. Gombrich's "Little History of the World" is not precisely the book I'm looking for, but it's a good start. It covers the entire sweep of human history from paleolithic times to World War I (it was originally written in 1935) and, being aimed at children, it's extremely readable. This recent edition has been by far the best selling book at my store over the last few months, so I figured it was worth a look.
Gombrich has an amicable, conversational style of writing, as though he were holding a child on his knee and telling them a story - and he is telling a story, because he quite clearly states in the opening chapter that that's all history is. I was lucky enough to have an excellent history teacher in high school who was well aware of what really matters in history, rather than pushing the antiquated John Howard style of teaching, but Gombrich must have been quite the pioneer back in the early 30s. He regularly stops to point out that history is not merely a long flow of empires and political shifts, but that human society can also be greatly altered by shifts in opinion, and that it is a fallacy to assume that people hundreds or thousands of years ago were effectively the same as us:
If you could talk to a gentlemen from the time of the Turkish siege, there would be many things about him that would surprise you... but nothing could prepare you for the shock you would have if he were to begin to air his views. All children should be thrashed. Young girls (no more than children) should be married (and to men they barely know). A peasant's lot is to toil and not complain. Beggars and tramps should be whipped and put into chains in the marketplace for everyone to mock. Thieves should be hanged and murderers publicly chopped into pieces. Witches and the other harmful sorcerers that infest the country should be burnt. People of different beliefs should be persecuted, treated as outcasts or thrown into dark dungeons... And you would hear these opinions not only from the mouth of some coarse or uncouth fellow, but from the most intelligent and pious people in all walks of life and from all nations.
Gombrich then explains the Enlightenment, which is something I had never heard of until I went to university. I consider myself to be a fairly well educated person, but Gombrich's tale of history fleshed out my knowledge of many things which even now, 22 years old and university-educated, I was only vaguely aware of, including Alexander the Great, Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, and the Protestant Reformation. How wonderful it would be if our primary school students were given a broader historical education instead of being fed nationalist clap-trap about Simpson's donkey. Even high school history in this country - though it admirably teaches students about evaluating sources and taking a broader view of history than just names and dates - focuses almost entirely on the 20th century.
The book is not without its flaws; obviously it can only give a basic outline of human history, and it's also extremely Euro-centric. That's a term that usually means Western-centric, but even North America gets short shrift here, with only a few pages dedicated to the American Revolution and Civil War. But as I already pointed out, this is a better education than most young children get, at least in Australia. And more importanly, Gombrich's grandfatherly voice does an excellent job of instilling a sense of wonder and imagination about the course of human history. A Little History of the World is only intended as a starting point for a historical education, but it fulfills that purpose very well, whether you're starting aged 10 or 50.
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and to read, and wouldn't be able to go into much depth, but even a basic analysis would do much to address the hodge-podge absorption of historical knowledge that I (and, I assume, most people) currently have.A lot of what we know about history we obtain from popular culture, associating it with a certain set of visual motifs (fashion, architecture, manners of speech etc.) The 1890s I associate with London in Victorian England; the 1870s and 1880s with the American West; the early 1800s with the Napoleonic Wars and Australian early settlement, and so on. The further back, the less I know, and the more likely I am to associate a period in time with one particular piece of art or popular culture; the early 1700s, for example, is Pirates of the Caribbean, the early 1600s the plays of Shakespeare, then there's that whole vague medieval era of knights and castles...
My point is we (or at least I) tend to associate certain time periods with certain places, and history books that focus on only one region reinforce that view. 1812, for example, was the time of Napoleon and the teething problems of American independency, but I have only a dim idea of what was occurring at the same time in Asia and Africa and India and so on. What I want is a book that slowly takes us through the ages and shows us how all these different people related to each other at the time; the shifting stages of human relationships. Any decent historian, of course, knows that history isn't about memorising dates, but rather about the way human society works and how we interact with each other. The precise date of a war is not remotely as important as why it was fought, who was fighting in it, and what people thought about it at the time.
I'm now four paragraphs in and I haven't mentioned the book. Gombrich's "Little History of the World" is not precisely the book I'm looking for, but it's a good start. It covers the entire sweep of human history from paleolithic times to World War I (it was originally written in 1935) and, being aimed at children, it's extremely readable. This recent edition has been by far the best selling book at my store over the last few months, so I figured it was worth a look.
Gombrich has an amicable, conversational style of writing, as though he were holding a child on his knee and telling them a story - and he is telling a story, because he quite clearly states in the opening chapter that that's all history is. I was lucky enough to have an excellent history teacher in high school who was well aware of what really matters in history, rather than pushing the antiquated John Howard style of teaching, but Gombrich must have been quite the pioneer back in the early 30s. He regularly stops to point out that history is not merely a long flow of empires and political shifts, but that human society can also be greatly altered by shifts in opinion, and that it is a fallacy to assume that people hundreds or thousands of years ago were effectively the same as us:
If you could talk to a gentlemen from the time of the Turkish siege, there would be many things about him that would surprise you... but nothing could prepare you for the shock you would have if he were to begin to air his views. All children should be thrashed. Young girls (no more than children) should be married (and to men they barely know). A peasant's lot is to toil and not complain. Beggars and tramps should be whipped and put into chains in the marketplace for everyone to mock. Thieves should be hanged and murderers publicly chopped into pieces. Witches and the other harmful sorcerers that infest the country should be burnt. People of different beliefs should be persecuted, treated as outcasts or thrown into dark dungeons... And you would hear these opinions not only from the mouth of some coarse or uncouth fellow, but from the most intelligent and pious people in all walks of life and from all nations.
Gombrich then explains the Enlightenment, which is something I had never heard of until I went to university. I consider myself to be a fairly well educated person, but Gombrich's tale of history fleshed out my knowledge of many things which even now, 22 years old and university-educated, I was only vaguely aware of, including Alexander the Great, Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, and the Protestant Reformation. How wonderful it would be if our primary school students were given a broader historical education instead of being fed nationalist clap-trap about Simpson's donkey. Even high school history in this country - though it admirably teaches students about evaluating sources and taking a broader view of history than just names and dates - focuses almost entirely on the 20th century.
The book is not without its flaws; obviously it can only give a basic outline of human history, and it's also extremely Euro-centric. That's a term that usually means Western-centric, but even North America gets short shrift here, with only a few pages dedicated to the American Revolution and Civil War. But as I already pointed out, this is a better education than most young children get, at least in Australia. And more importanly, Gombrich's grandfatherly voice does an excellent job of instilling a sense of wonder and imagination about the course of human history. A Little History of the World is only intended as a starting point for a historical education, but it fulfills that purpose very well, whether you're starting aged 10 or 50.
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LibraryThing member timothyl33
Deceptive in its small size, this book however, packs a big punch. To be able to put so much history in such a simple and charming manner with its narrative style, makes this something to treasure for people of all ages.
LibraryThing member whitrichardson
I loved this little history book. Great introduction to world history for young adults and old. I'm saving my copy for my future children.
LibraryThing member seth_g
So much to be said about this wonderful writer and this wonderful book, meant to be read aloud to young people. But for now, this tidbit, which stopped me cold:
"And having grown tired of his empire, along with its sun that never set, Charles V installed his brother Ferdinand as ruler of Austria and
"And having grown tired of his empire, along with its sun that never set, Charles V installed his brother Ferdinand as ruler of Austria and
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emperor of Germany, and gave Spain and the Netherlands to his son Philip. He then withdrew, in 1556, an old and broken man, to the Spanish monastery of San Geronimo de Yuste. It is said that he spent his time there repairing and regulating all the clocks. He wanted them to chime at the same time. When he didn't succeed, he is reported to have said, 'How did I ever presume to try to unite all the peoples of my empire when I cannot, even once, persuade a few clocks to chime together.' He died lonely and embittered. And as for the clocks of his former empire, whenever they struck the hour, their chimes were further and further apart." Show Less
LibraryThing member Princesca
Am I the only one who found a bit odd the description of events about "Jews history" at the beginning of the book?
LibraryThing member eglinton
Charming and readable, thanks to a personal tone, and bold woodcut-style illustrative blocks. The genesis of the work is impressive too: Gombrich knocked it off in a few weeks in his 20s with youthful scholarly hubris. He remains humble, when treating of grand themes and people, but the work feels
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ultimately unreliable, most of all in its Eurocentrism. This may be forgivable in a book conceived almost a century ago, but still rankles a little for a work appointing itself a history of the world. Africa, the Americas are ignored, ancient Asian civilisations are admitted as colourful noises off. All of which leaves lots of the colour commentary as pure Sellers and Yeatman: "The Merovingian kings were not much good at ruling. They had flowing hair and long beards and they did nothing but sit one their thrones and parrot the words their advisers had taught them." Show Less
LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
When Gombrich first composed his little history, he had in mind that generation's children. That his work should remain so fresh today, and so enjoyable by adults, says many things, but above all the message is this: read this erudite, accessible history, and you shall be rewarded with a renewed
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faith in people. Show Less
LibraryThing member yarkan
A pleasant over view of things. Now I see that the French Revolution didn't really help things much.
He said something about Japan being the best student of the world after the Meiji Restoration.
He said something about Japan being the best student of the world after the Meiji Restoration.
LibraryThing member mantooth
Overview of history written for children that does an excellent job of putting time periods in perspective. Don't read expecting an in depth review of history, this is not a book of facts but a book that will likely encourage an adult reader to spend the time to delve deeper into areas that are a
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bit cloudy. Show Less
LibraryThing member wouterzzzzz
A history book for children, but very interesting for adults too. Especially if you don't know much about the world's history, this is a good starting point. It is biased towards Europe, so don't be offended if there's not much in there about Asia for example. Read this book first, before, for
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example, "Guns, Germs, and Steel" (and not the other way around). Show Less
LibraryThing member woodge
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,
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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. Show Less
LibraryThing member yufufi
As another reviewer said this is not a book of facts. There are many misleading statements in the book; the author is definitely not trying to be objective. For instance the Ottoman Empire is barely mentioned in the book which is weird given that they were a major player in the world history
If you want to read a book about history of the world I'd recommend looking for another one.
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between 14th and 19th centuries. If you want to read a book about history of the world I'd recommend looking for another one.
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LibraryThing member ftong
A very poetic view of history. The author does an excellent job of not getting too caught up in historical details and dates. As do most Western accounts, however, Gombrich largely neglects Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
LibraryThing member datwood
This book was written for children in 1935-36 by a young German art historian. It became very popular and was translated into a number of other languages, but not English until it was recently translated and updated. Unlike many books of its kind, A Little History of the World does cover more than
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just Europe and North America. Of necessity, there is a lot of detail left out, but it does cover much. That said, I found it rather patronizing in the "Dear little Reader" head-patting way. Maybe kids won't notice, or mind. I did. Show Less
LibraryThing member exitfish
a broad and clear western civ refresher. covering 5000 years in 350 pages gives a great overview. some of it, since it's written for a young audience, overly simplifies and distorts (the parts on the middle ages makes the period seem like a playful renaissance fair). but other than these minor
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quibbles, it's incredibly terrific and i can't stress enough the amazing clarity and curiosity in the prose. the final chapter, written years after the rest of the book was finished and catches the history up to world war 2 and the atomic age, is staggering. Show Less
LibraryThing member leandrod
Very pleasant. Perhaps more optimistic than events warrant, but very pleasant indeed.
LibraryThing member janglen
This is a great overview of history. The focus is on Europe but realistically to ask for whole world coverage would be asking for a book three times the size. This is readable and never gets bogged down in detail, so it provides an excellent starting point for anyone trying to get to grips with the
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events of the past. Show Less
LibraryThing member satyridae
I can't recommend this much beyond the halfway point. Gombrich does a creditable job right up to the birth of Christ, but in my opinion the wheels fall off this book after the event.
It's totally Eurocentric, Christian-slanted history. Very moving illustration of the old saw that history is written
For what it is, it's more than a little interesting. For what it isn't, it's not worth picking up.
It's totally Eurocentric, Christian-slanted history. Very moving illustration of the old saw that history is written
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by the victors. There's some lip service done regarding the genocides the Europeans were responsible for- but it's cursory at best. And sure, it's a history book for kids, so one wouldn't wish to dwell on the ugliness. And it's also a book written long, long ago (though allegedly updated).For what it is, it's more than a little interesting. For what it isn't, it's not worth picking up.
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LibraryThing member DanCook
A judicious, sensitive and non-triumphal telling of the whole history of the world, as much a delight to adults as children.
LibraryThing member kottenbrookk
This work of literary nonfiction has been enjoyed by children all over the world for years, but its limited perspective and questionable accuracy make it a better source of entertainment than of information for today’s young readers. Originally published in Austria in 1935, A Little History seeks
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to provide a child-friendly introduction to the whole of human history, from the cavemen to the contemporary age. It reads like a kind grandfather telling a child a very long story. The author does not attempt to be objective; he often gives opinions and makes judgments that give context to his subjects and refers to himself and to the reader. The book reads like a product of another time, though it was recently updated. While Gombrich speaks respectfully about all cultures and religions, his affinity for Christianity and Judaism are apparent. In spite of the fact that the history of the world concerns people of many races, Gombrich only mentions skin color when describing cruel or barbaric groups. That the book does not focus on Britain or the U.S.A. is refreshing, but it still neglects Asia, Africa, and South America. Finally, no sources or references are provided, which calls into question the accuracy of much of the book. While A Little History is entertaining, as a source of information it does not hold up to the standards placed on history texts today and is best valued for its own historical significance. Additional Purchase. Grades 5-10. Show Less
LibraryThing member markwhiting
This is a really lovely little book of the history of the world. It's concise, well written and suitable for anyone of any age.
LibraryThing member joeydag
A wonderful introduction to a western oriented world history written for an older preteen audience. The last chapter is very interesting in that the author added this chapter for the English translation and it is 50 years more up to date and is focused changes that took place during the author's
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lifetime. Those events include WWII, holocaust, atomic bombs, etc. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Schlegel-Tieck Prize (Runner-Up — 2006)
Language
Original language
German