World history books for a sheltered young teen?

January 4, 2020 12:26 PM

Looking for books on world history (i.e. not solely or primarily focused on Europe and the US) that are suitable for an inquisitive 14-year-old from a sheltered background.

A curious and sharp 14-year-old boy in my extended family wants to learn more history. His parents are very conservative, and they have homeschooled him his entire life. This has given him a radically skewed view of world history. What he's learned has all been from a hard-right American Catholic perspective, focused exclusively on white people in the US and Europe. The good news is that he's become aware that this perspective is skewed, and is asking for help finding history books that will un-skew that perspective. In particular, he's asking for books that will teach him about the history of the entire world, not just Christians in Europe and the US.

To be clear, I'm not saying that any book with content about Europe or the US is disqualified. It would probably be good to have some content about those areas, to help give him a more accurate perspective than the wildly inaccurate one he's already been exposed to.

More about the kid: he is a pretty good reader, very interested in history, especially military history. He's not on board with his parents' homophobia or xenophobia — they're Trump supporters, he's not — but he's still carrying a lot of baggage that he's picked up from them (including a healthy dose of sexism and gender essentialism). The fact that he's reaching out for more information is a great sign, but I am wary of giving him something that will push him too far outside his comfort zone, for fear of sending him running back to the familiar perspective of his parents.

So ideally, I'm looking for an age-appropriate world history book, one that actually covers the whole world without taking a Eurocentric perspective, and which (among other things) accurately and carefully discusses the horrors that European colonialism and the Catholic Church have been responsible for, all while doing so in a way that will be palatable for a sheltered Catholic kid in the US still getting used to the idea that his parents are wrong about some things.

I am aware that this book (or set of books) might not exist, but I'm really hoping it does.

posted by Harvey Manfrenjensenden to Education (22 answers total)

Not worldwide, but the gold standard for radically different take on US history is Zinn's People's History of the United States. I've not read it, but several folks have recommended Harman's book as a similar take on world history.

A more fun, broad look at world history through a specific lens that's really fun is Kurlansky's Salt, which is a world history by-way-of-important-mineral. It's very good, fairly easy read, and while not radical, it is nuanced enough to give an alternate perspective on historic development. It's not politically radical as Zinn's book, but it is still quite good, and a novel take on looking at world history through the lens of an uncommonly thought of thing.
posted by furnace.heart at 12:38 PM on January 4, 2020 [2 favorites]

To clarify, are you looking for genuinely non-Eurocentric histories, i.e. histories of places other than Europe/ the US, regarded as interesting in themselves, where European or US actions might enter only tangentially or not at all?

Or are you looking for histories that examine other places, but mainly as a way of politically critiquing Europe and/or the US?
posted by yersinia at 12:46 PM on January 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

As a historian, I beg you: Please don't give him Zinn's book. Even those who agree with his worldview say that the book is flawed and biased. He's had enough of that in his life.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 1:13 PM on January 4, 2020 [21 favorites]

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, by Charles C. Mann
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:31 PM on January 4, 2020 [13 favorites]

Does it have to be a book? Because the Crash course world history YouTube series might fit the bill.
posted by tinymegalo at 1:33 PM on January 4, 2020 [6 favorites]

Ernst Gombrich’s A Little History of the World (Amazon.com) might fit the bill? I enjoyed it as an adult and it’s aimed at children.

“The short history chronicles human development from the inventions of cavemen to the results of the First World War. Additionally, the book describes the beliefs of many major world religions, including Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, and incorporates these ideas into its narrative presentation of historical people and events.”
posted by fabius at 2:01 PM on January 4, 2020

Cartoon History of the Universe, and its sequels (II and III, and Cartoon History of the Modern World).

I takes you from the Big Bang through Sumer and Egypt to the ancient Greeks
II goes to India, China, and Rome
III starts with Arabia and takes you to Columbus
Modern World takes you to the 21st century.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 3:01 PM on January 4, 2020 [6 favorites]

I will add to rather_be_jording' s recommandation another book by Hochshild: Bury the chains, on the anti-slavery movement.

Another book is Guns, germs and steel: according to the author, geography has been the greatest factor for the dominance of Europeans in world history. He wrote the book specifically to counter a racist reading of history (whereby it is genetics that account for European dominance).
posted by bluedora at 3:06 PM on January 4, 2020 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: As a historian, I beg you: Please don't give him Zinn's book. Even those who agree with his worldview say that the book is flawed and biased. He's had enough of that in his life.

Yeah, Zinn's book is off the menu, for exactly that reason (and because it's too focused on the US).

To clarify, are you looking for genuinely non-Eurocentric histories, i.e. histories of places other than Europe/ the US, regarded as interesting in themselves, where European or US actions might enter only tangentially or not at all? Or are you looking for histories that examine other places, but mainly as a way of politically critiquing Europe and/or the US?

Mostly the former, but certainly open to the latter.

Does it have to be a book? Because the Crash course world history YouTube series might fit the bill.

He specifically asked for a book or books. And even if he hadn't, I'd be loath to point him to YouTube. The recommendation engine there can serve up some very nasty white supremacist nonsense. And unfortunately, this kid is a prime target for that kind of radicalization, both in terms of his demographics and his cultural background.
posted by Harvey Manfrenjensenden at 3:17 PM on January 4, 2020 [2 favorites]

I was coming to recommend The Cartoon History Of The Universe too. Those books provide a magnificent overview of world history with plenty of interesting anecdotes to keep you engaged. Don’t be put off by the comic format, they’re the real deal.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 3:27 PM on January 4, 2020

The Cartoon History Of The Universe

Now that I think of it the first two chapters of Volume One may be problematic, as they cover the Big Bang, dinosaurs, and evolution. Possibly just start him on Volume Two which picks up just after Alexander the Great .
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 3:36 PM on January 4, 2020

I think Susan Wise Bauer’s “History of the World” series would be perfect for this. She is actually very very popular with homeschoolers, but I found her 2 later books (medieval world and renaissance world, I wasn’t interested in the ancient world one when I picked them up) so far to be very informative as a chronological description of events for cultures (European, Asian, African and indigenous American) all around the world. She is Christian (and I believe Catholic) but she pulls no punches talking about evil and venality in the church throughout history and its encounters with other cultures.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16241133-the-history-of-the-renaissance-world
posted by permiechickie at 4:17 PM on January 4, 2020 [3 favorites]

I remember reading the The Travels of Ibn Battuta in my freshman world history class in college and thinking it was incredibly interesting. The course was very interested in getting students used to reading primary source materials so maybe there's a similar syllabus out there somewhere. I don't think the reading skills of a 14-years-old and 18-year-old are hugely different so a 101 survey class would work.
The only other things I remember reading are Cabeza de Vaca and some dude who wrote about the southern Ming Dynasty. I wish I could tell you who he was but the internet isn't cooperating.
posted by fiercekitten at 6:49 PM on January 4, 2020 [2 favorites]

Jonathan clement’s Coxinga book

Jing Liu’s manga history of China

Reading one of David burch’s navigation books exposed me to just how stupendous the Polynesian navigators were. “Emergency navigation” is probably the best for people with no inherent interest in navigation. I don’t think it has the history, but sparks a lot of questions about history.

Possibly fiercekitten is thinking of a Jonathan spense book? I’m trying to remember a history of a Buddhist monk who traveled over a huge area.

Ibn battuta is a great idea, but I remember it being a slow read in parts.
posted by unknown knowns at 7:39 PM on January 4, 2020

Would first person accounts like the Motorcycle Diaries work? He's probably at the right age for it.
posted by Toddles at 10:37 PM on January 4, 2020

If he's interested in military history, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World would be an excellent start in re-centreing his world view - because of the time and location it wouldn't be directly challenging a lot of what he has already learned, but introducing the ideas that white people are not the awesomest, and the USA and Europe are not the centre of the world. The Silk Roads takes a Persia-centric view of world history and would be another possibility. Both of these books are not perfect and have inaccuracies, but I think that my 14 year old self (also into military history) would have liked them.

Also adding my vote to 'Cartoon History Of The Universe'.
posted by Vortisaur at 1:39 AM on January 5, 2020 [3 favorites]

This might be too difficult, but Europe Before Hegemony and The Great Divergence are considered new classics in world history and are commonly taught in undergrad courses.

Nthing 1491; no idea how the lit has held up, but I think that the journalistic approach works well here, since the author isn't making huge claims. Which leads me to Guns, Germs and Steel, which definitely had a big effect on me at that age and inoculated me thoroughly against a lot of racist historical models, but... Not really sure if the argumentation holds up terribly well.

Something in the opposite direction, like The Cheese and the Worms may also be helpful, in that it kind of blows apart certain assumptions about how the world works.
posted by Stilling Still Dreaming at 3:25 AM on January 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

N'thing A Cartoon History of the Universe. It might be getting a bit out of date (published in 1997) but will be light years ahead of what he's getting at home. I loved it as a kid, and it definitely tries to give a fair shake to non-European stories and cultures.
posted by whitewall at 7:25 AM on January 5, 2020

I'd second the recommendation for Charles C. Mann's 1491, and also its "sequel," 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. Despite the prominent mention of Columbus, it's really about what historian Alfred Crosby called "the Columbian exchange," i.e., the large-scale movement not just of people but also of animals, plants, and microbes between the continents in the wake of European colonial and commercial encounters with the rest of the world. The author is a serious journalist who did years of research for the book and talked over aspects with many professional historians (disclaimer: including myself). He devotes time to maroon settlements and other forms of resistance to colonial expansion and enslavement, and notes the unintended consequences of much of the exchange. I've used 1493 as assigned reading for a college course in modern world history, but it's accessible to a bright high schooler.

I'd advise against Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, because its rigid schematism might be too appealing to a young person who is used to being told how to think. It's a book better approached after a reader has developed a good BS detector.

If he's interested in empires and how they have shaped world history, John Darwin's After Tamerlane is fairly readable, but also rather abstract ("history without people" is how one reader described it).
posted by brianogilvie at 12:09 PM on January 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

Why, look: there's a version of Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's excellent Indigenous People's History of the United States especially for young readers. Looks like it made quite a few 2019 Best Of lists.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 4:06 PM on January 5, 2020

The Times Atlas of World History is both beautiful and comprehensive - it avoids (mostly) being too centric of any region.

I don't really recommend Gombrich's Little History of the World for this AskMefi - it's a lovely book but while it touches on other continents unfortunately does tend towards the eurocentric (in fact it's somewhat germanocentric, as Gombrich himself acknowledged).
posted by plep at 5:04 AM on January 6, 2020

I'm a bit hesitant here give his sheltered background, but if he's interested in military history, how would something like Atrocitology: Humanity's 100 Deadliest Achievements (aka 'The Great Big Book of Horrible Things') sit with him? It's a fantastic book which covers the darker side of history and as you might expect covers all regions and viewpoints (the atrocities of the slave trades, totalitarianism, wars and religious intolerance are all covered, as are all periods of history including many which are quite obscure to the typical Westerner - e.g. the Time of Troubles in Russia, the An Lushan rebellion, and so on).

There's a good review here.
posted by plep at 5:12 AM on January 6, 2020