Timelines of World History

by John B. Teeple (Editor)

An illustrated record covering all the major events and achievements in human history. Designed for history aficionados, trivia buffs, or anyone with a curious mind, Timelines of World History takes an innovative approach to the traditional, text-driven style of a date-by-date chronology. Tracing the progress of humanity from the dawn of history to the present day, the book follows major historical events, cultural milestones, the expansions of empires, and the inventions and achievements of civilizations. Important events are cross-referenced with specific dates, important historical figures are profiled, and introductory essays profile what was happening and why. With more than 500 photographs and illustrations and over 25 maps, this is the most authoritative visual chronological record of the last 20,000 years.

Genres: History, Reference, Nonfiction

666 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2002

Reviews

[Thomas Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of entries like, "898: Magyars invade Italy and sack Pavia." No narrative, no context, no "why is this significant." Tiny type. Small maps. Could be a good reference to use along with a more thorough history. Includes through 2002.

An outstanding one-volume history of everything from the Big Bang through World War II is Asimov's Chronology of the World. Asimov is particularly good at telling why events are significant. But he has no maps. Great maps of Europe and Mideast, late 300s through late 1400s are in The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History.

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Timelines of the World is a must have reference for every household. This huge book summarizes each period of history from the prehistoric world to the modern day. Each period (early humanity, the advent of agriculture, early civilizations, the early classical age, the renaissance, the Cold War, and many other periods) is divided into a separate chapter which includes a map labelled with important aspects of that part of history and timeline entries for Asia, Africa, Europe, Australasia, and the Americas as well as short illustrated articles and entries describing important aspects of that time period from architecture through artifacts and famous individuals.

Timelines of the World will remain an important reference in my home for a very long time. I found the entries interesting and very relevant. I was thoroughly impressed that the timelines actually showed what was happening on each continent during each of these periods. Too often, history references focus on specific cultures during specific events and never really show what was happening elsewhere at the time. I was also pleased that the timelines were broken into reasonable amount of time (usually between 10 and 25 year periods) so that a good deal of detail could be provided on each of these tables.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book when it was out in hardcover. This is, I think, my favorite history book. There are pages that fold out, but the best thing about this book is that it has the history of the whole world, not just Europe, but also Africa, the Americas (before anyone had sailed over here), and Australia to name just the few that I can remember right now. And it lists them all side-by-side, so if you want to see what happened in Africa during the time when Elizabeth I was Queen, then it shows you right on the page.

[Ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great reference to world history. The vast majority of the book is timeline split up into four sections (Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas/Australia) with summaries at the front of every major section. It is very clear why ceratin things are important and it's easy to see what's happening in around the world at any given time. It's super easy to make the connections between important events that sometimes people don't see because their don't view the world as one single entitiy, they see it as several disconnected sections.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant reference book with world maps for each 50-500 years and details on events for each continent presented next to each other, allowing for a quick view of what was going on on the planet at the same time

[John Somers · Rating 3 out of 5]

11/20.

[Steph Fredericksen]

GREAT VISUALS

[Sue K · Rating 5 out of 5]

An ongoing resource book. Use this type to look up various details while reading other history sources. Love being able to put more context behind what I am reading.

[Oznasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe Kingfisher Books started off making non-fiction books for kids that had a lot of kid appeal because of the format that included so many interesting illustrations. They now make books for adults that use the same formula and it works. Recently I picked up ‘Timelines of World History’. I am very keen to have information available to me that fills in gaps. For example, after I read ‘War and Peace’ I read other titles about Napoleon because W&P raised so many questions for me. A similar thing happened when I was reading about the French Revolution. I want a book that helps to fill in the background for me and tells me what else was happening in the world around the same time. This book does that. I think it was perhaps published to be a reference book but I read all of the timeline section and then skimmed through the concordance. It certainly doesn’t tell you everything. It only skims but it is interesting to see what was happening here that might have had some effect on what was happening there. It helps me to understand why WWII followed so closely behind WWI and why Adolf Hitler might have had some appeal to the German people at the time. What really came home to me as I read, is that the human race has been at war with itself for most of the time since we’ve been recording history and ironically many of those wars have been about religion. I have to wonder—is there really any hope for us?

Just like to add that the editing of this book is a bit sloppy in places, IMHO.

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was attracted to this book bc it looks a lot like the textbook we read in World History class at Santa Catalina, and lately I have had SUCH a hankering to get my hands on that book and reread it. This book didn't fulfill that craving--they really go all out with the whole time line thing, which makes the exciting parts of history get all muddled with boring stuff happening in other places. It just didn't do it for me. Taking it back to the library tomorrow!

[Chris Seltzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The introduction to this book makes it clear that it was a passion project published only after the author's death. The care for the subject materials is present in the book.

The swimlane format does do it a disservice at some times but overall this is a worthy book to add to the collection of anyone interested in world history.

[sologdin · Rating 2 out of 5]

more fun than rigorous, this tertiary, similar to an atlas of world history, which sacrifices all depth for maximal breadth: broad strokes, events and dates, very easy on the eye--but not a substitute for more detailed study.