A Great World History Book

May 19, 2007 11:23 AM

Which is the greatest world history book you know about?

I want to get a general view of WORLD history and I searched and ended up with this:

A Short History of the World by John Roberts

http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-World-John-Roberts/dp/019511504X/ref=pd_bbs_4/002-0195477-1985634?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179598416&sr=8-4

But the reviews seem to indicate a choppy style of writing and recommend finding another. Anyone have a good book with a good overview of important world events?

Ideally I dont want to have to read 30 books for this but Im open to this being more than one book.

Obviously, I prefer reading just one! =)

posted by theholotrope to education (23 comments total)

I have a feeling that if you're looking for something that covers the history of the world in one book, you won't find it. You might however find books that cover areas or time periods that will help you.

I can only recommend "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. It might be more dense then you're looking for, but it will get the job done.
posted by Derek at 11:52 AM on May 19, 2007

For recent centuries, I loved Birth of the Modern World and have recommended it here before.
posted by Abiezer at 12:39 PM on May 19, 2007

The Story of Civlization (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Civilization) is only eleven volumes and only goes up to Napolean, but I've always enjoyed the prose of the Durants.
posted by nightwood at 12:42 PM on May 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

I don't know, I liked Roberts'. I think it's hopeless to get ALL of world history in a single book that it's readable and useful and not an encyclopedia, and he manages to come through with just the unavoidable bruises and broken bones for the enterprise. (For instance, I didn't get the French Revolution there. It was only after I read Schama's Citizens, which in size is not far from Roberts', that I realized what an amazingly complicated clusterfuck the whole thing was. In those kinds of situations, Roberts' soldiers on just with a factual through clever sketch, and so I can see why the "choppy" criticism floats around).

IANAHistorian, YMMV, I need more coffee.
posted by Iosephus at 12:45 PM on May 19, 2007

through=though. As I was saying... coffee.
posted by Iosephus at 12:46 PM on May 19, 2007

The greatest world history I know is William H. McNeill's The Rise of the West, which was published in 1963. It's demographic, anthropological history, rather than political or military history. Single greatest book? McNeill's.
posted by cgc373 at 12:47 PM on May 19, 2007

I doubt any book on this topic can beat Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe for ease of reading.
posted by baho at 12:58 PM on May 19, 2007

Here are a few lenses with which you can begin to view the big picture. S.E. Finer The History of Government from the Earliest Times. E.H. Gombrich The Story of Art. Roy Porter's The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, the history of medicine. Robin and William McNeil wrote The Human Web All these books are well written and are suitable for the general reader and all have bibliographies which can be mined at great profit. Finer is especially good, but at 1800 pages it is a commitment. I am anxious to see what else is recommended.
posted by shothotbot at 1:12 PM on May 19, 2007

The aforementioned E.H. Gombrich also wrote "A Little History of the World,", which -- if nothing else -- is short, well written, and charming.
posted by grumblebee at 1:45 PM on May 19, 2007

"HUMAN" (incidentally, searching for "human" in half.com's engine brings up everything BUT this!).. It has medical knowledge of the body, summaries of a zillion cultures, religions, types of civilization, eras, psychology, etc. Worth checking out =D
posted by Quarter Pincher at 2:14 PM on May 19, 2007

I highly recommend The Encyclopedia of World History (Wikipedia). For years I carried around a beat-up copy of the fourth edition, edited by William L. Langer, but that only went up through the early '60s; the sixth (edited by Peter N. Stearns) goes up through 2000. It's not a continuous narrative but a sequence of chronological entries for each country/region; on the other hand, that way it packs in much more information (and there are great maps and genealogical charts too), and it doesn't have to stick to some damn theory of history. If you want to know what happened at a particular place and time, this is for you. It's available online (amazingly), but I prefer having a physical book to flip through.

Also, I second Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe—it's a delightful read.
posted by languagehat at 2:17 PM on May 19, 2007 [2 favorites]

McNeill also wrote a book with his son, The Human Web. I'm not much of a fan of world history in general, but this book is quite good nonetheless.
posted by nasreddin at 2:49 PM on May 19, 2007

Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond.
posted by Jairus at 3:33 PM on May 19, 2007

Maybe not definitive, but fun: H. G Wells' "A Short History of the World."
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:40 PM on May 19, 2007

Fernand Braudel's A History of Civilizations is kinda textbooky, as it was originally intended as a textbook for french high schoolers, but it's a good introductory history, I think, by a world class scholar (though it was written half a century ago, so not exactly up to date...). I read it about ten years ago, as an assignment, and enjoyed it ok but also wasn't very focused on the material personally, so can't be sure if the book on its own delivers what you're looking for.

I think my overall skepticism would be that any one book could really give you much in the end - but best bet would probably be to go down to the bookstore and browse the history section, if you want to find the right text for you.
posted by mdn at 7:11 PM on May 19, 2007

For a scholarly, Marxist take on world history, Eric Hobsbawm wrote a 4-book series which is quite good. The titles are The Age of Empire, The Age of Extremes, The Age of Capital, and the Age of Revolution. The books aren't text books and you can find 'em cheap, ie < $2. br>
A History of the Modern World by Palmer et. al is also very good.
posted by HotPatatta at 7:54 PM on May 19, 2007

For general history I use the Durant's Story of Civilization, mentioned by nightwood. For a one-volume, I read an abridged version of Toynbee's A Study of history.
posted by RussHy at 8:40 PM on May 19, 2007

"Galapgos", By Kurt Vonnegut
posted by longsleeves at 9:35 PM on May 19, 2007

That would be "Galapagos"
posted by longsleeves at 9:38 PM on May 19, 2007

The whole Larry Gonick series of Cartoon History books are great. Seriously worth it; gives you the quickie view in a very palatable form, and then you will know where to dive in for more detailed reading on things you're interested in.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:14 PM on May 19, 2007

gibbon's decline and fall of the roman empire because we're the modern rome and we're declining and falling as you read this.
posted by bruce at 2:23 AM on May 20, 2007

I second the recommandation of "Guns, germs and steel", and would add James Burke's "Connections". Burke tries to make sense of how things are connected through history, and it is quite illuminating to read history this way instead of as a series of dates and events.
posted by Harald74 at 6:44 AM on May 20, 2007

Another vote for William McNeill's The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community.
posted by russilwvong at 9:51 PM on May 22, 2007