A Little History of the World (Little Histories) Paperback – Illustrated, October 7, 2008

This book is written in a flowing and easy-to-follow style. It mostly feels like the arture is having a conversation with you. It's clearly intended for kids, but I think it's a good read for adults too. The book gives a surprisingly thorough servey of Europe's history. At time I felt like it could be more interesting with more details, but I guess that's a price that needs to be paid to keep it so short.One thing to note is that the book's title is misleading. This is a history of Eroup - not the world. The arture makes it clear in several places that - writing to Eourpen kids (the book was originally written in German, I believe) - he intended this to be a history of only Eourp, so I'm not sure why it was called a history of the world.

Really fun and factual readLike stated on the title of my review, the book was pleasant and informative. The author begins around the time of the hominids, and descriptively details [their] life without communication, unity, laws, and material. Then he transitions to prehistoric times - that of the Neanderthals. This was the inception of communication (through paintings), language, man-made fire and tools. The periods discussed here are the Ice Age, the Stone Age, and the Bronze Age. In the proceeding chapters the author details the life of primitive civilizations living in Egypt, Mespotamia, Palestine and Israel. This is were religion formed, and historical religious prophets are spoken of such as Moses, David, Solomon and more. Around the time came the Phoenicians and the inception of the alphabet; therefore resulting in intelligible language. Other ancient civilizations are mentioned and expounded on, and same goes with their rulers (and influential figures). For example:Ancient China - the influence of Confucious and ruling of Shih Huang-tiPunics - HannibalRoman Empire - Julius CaesarEtc.After the A.D. point, there was inception of superstition and the Dark Ages. There was Christendom, chivalry, cities and markets, merchants and knights. Throughout early times, the Arab world came to be and had a strong advantage on the world intellectually and powerfully. Then came the new age, with new religions and new wars. Eventually we come to the enlightenment; a time of intellectual triumph in anthropoid history. Revolutions occurred, and so did Napoleon. Seas were crossed and America was founded, late of course, and local inhabitants were brutally slaughtered by the Spaniards. And eventually we get to modern times. The text transitioned fairly well and I enjoyed it much and learned a lot. To me it seemed that the author was of Christian faith, because of what looked like minuscule attempts at times to justify Christian actions. A little caveat for sure but overall there are a lot to learn from this short book on a huge subject.

Gombrich delivers what he promises, "A Little History." To a reviewer who is a reader, rather than a historian, the book conveys to young students a story with a conscience, but not with a politically correct agenda, which pleases this reader in spades. It is meant to be read aloud to the student, presumably by a parent or teacher. It is conversational, it doesn't pander or speak down to the audience, it occasionally asks a question, or throws in a comment. First published in 1936 - the lazy reviewer neglects to determine the number of printings- in the German, the little classic (280 pages) was translated into English in 2005. That should attest to someone's idea of the work's worthiness. Although meant for kids, Gombrich writes as if at least some of the material had come to the student's attention before. Few words need to be defined, there is no overload of names or dates, and a few maps are included. It is apparent that Grombrich was writing for a student whose standards were more demanding than in today's America. It would be a shock to this reviewer's system to find that fifty per cent of contemporary high school seniors would pass a test covering the material in "A Little History." Alas. The work is Euro-centric, as the author acknowledges. The American Civil War gets less than one page of treatment. But it works within the context of Western civilization, Gombrich's focus. Gombrich revised the material while in his nineties, during the 1990's. He commented on a couple of shortcomings contained in the original work, and his effort to correct them, which speaks well for his ethics. Who is ready to hear this book? A very bright eight or nine-year-old, perhaps, especially if the emphasis is put on the idea that it is a student's first pass, revealing a very big picture. Multiple readings might be useful as the student ages. I should have given it five stars.