A Short History of the World

A Short History of the World relates the history of our world from the Big Bang to the present day. The book’s aim is not to come up with ground-breaking new theories on why things occurred but rather to give a broad overview of the generally accepted version of events so that non-historians will feel less embarrassed about their lack of historical knowledge when discussing the past.

The book starts at the beginning of time and after a brief synopsis on how the earth came about, how life developed and how man became master of his destiny, it begins in earnest with the first civilizations, teaching us how and why they came about and their importance for mankind. The author then chooses what he sees as the most important empires and events and tries to link them so that there is a flowing narrative, as opposed to a dry series of facts. Going through history, we learn how the Roman Empire came to an end when it was invaded by Barbarians, how and when nation states developed, how the major religions affected world history and the devastation they caused, how the Muslims and Chinese were far more advanced than the Europeans for many centuries, how the great explorers changed world history and how we finally came to understand the size of the planet on which we live.

Lascelles accompanies his narrative with a description of the main historical characters we undoubtedly came across at school, from Marco Polo to Captain Cook. This allows us to put these characters into perspective and understand how their actions were important in the context of the time in which they lived. The book finishes with a gallop through the 20th century, in which we learn how tragic this century has actually been and how despite the inventions and development that occurred, we are still unable to prevent man’s inhumanity to man.

The book is easy to read and assumes no prior knowledge of past events. It goes a step further by providing 32 clear maps especially drawn to accompany the text, in which we see everything from the Viking Invasions to the breadth of Japanese expansion in the second world war.

An excellent place to start to bring your historical knowledge up to scratch.

**More information [available here](http://www.cruxpublishing.co.uk/books/shorthistory.html).**