TIME History s Greatest Events by Knauer, Kelly, Editors of TIME. (Time,2010) [Hardcover]

by Kelly Knauer

Join the editors of TIME in a fast-paced journey through the adventures of man on Planet Earth in this richly illustrated volume, which explores history's most important turning points. Here are the great Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Here are the great empires, from the vanished civilization of the Minoans on Crete to the glories of Classical Greece and Rome to the mysterious collapse of the Maya culture in Mexico. Here are the visionary scientists who altered our view of nature's Newton and Darwin, Copernicus and Einstein. Here are the great conquerors,including Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan and Napoleon. And here are the great clashes between cultures, as Christian knights besiege Muslim citadels in the Crusades, a handful of Spanish conquistadors topple the empires of the Aztecs and Incas, and Japan attacks the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. The book is arranged chronologically, rapidly accelerating in pace as it reports the development of the technologies that define the modern world, from the coming of the railroad and the telegraph to the advent of photography, the cinema and television and culminating in the invention of the transistor and the boot-up of the World Wide Web. And it offers fresh perspectives on cultures too often overlooked, from the Golden Age of Islam to the voyages of Viking mariners to China's renascence under the Ming dynasty. Presented in a special oversized format, this beautifully illustrated volume also offers a sweeping panorama of man's greatest artistic achievements, from the cave paintings of Lascaux to marvelous medieval maps and on to the great paintings and sculptures of the Renaissance. As an illuminating guide to mankind's triumphs and sorrows, and as a gallery of human culture, science, art and architecture, it offers a dazzling and provocative encounter with the great turning points of history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

First published October 12, 2010

Reviews

[Denise Hatcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good way to review my history classes and try to understand our world a little better. The event that most stood out to me and has had me thinking the longest was #75 “An Influenza Pandemic Claims Millions of Lives.” They wrote that as many as 100 million may have died during the Spanish flu which lasted from 1918 - 1919. The last paragraph explains, “The pandemic ended only when the virus had infected so many people that it burned itself out. Today, doctors have better tools - vaccines, antivirals and respirators- that would cut the potential death toll. But influenza is unpredictable......” I have spent hours thinking of where we are with covid and what we have learned from the past.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this. It gives an overview of world history with 100 events. It has beautiful art and photographs and I felt like it was an awesome recap of history. This would be a great book for a home library or for the coffee table.

[Leonidas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A look into the brutish, war driven, religious, disease stricken history of the human race, that seems to perpetuate its existence. The book chronologically accelerates the history, with more important events occurring as it nears the 21st century. Emphasis is heavily placed on European ascension to global power hunger, rather than a global view of things, but then again it always seems as if Europe had the upper hand for a long time.

Review: A great look into what humans are actually capable of... war... death, slaughter, conquest, rape, persecution, segregation, etc, etc. Only in the last 50 years or so did humanity achieve enlightenment, to a certain extent, and in very selective regions of the planet. On the other hand, humanity seems to innovate, exponentially, its technology, yet its morals, and traditions seem to be stuck in the stone ages for much of the population.

Food for thought: In the 20th century, (1900-2000), approximately 360,000,000 (three hundred sixty million) people were killed from genocide, disease, war. 160,000,000 from war alone...

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here, the editors of Time magazine highlight 100 events, from the invention of the alphabet to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, that have shaped the world as we know it. For each event there is a one-page general description and a photograph or two. The selection seems heavily biased toward the Western world and relatively modern events (six of the 100 most important events of all time happened during World War II?!), but I still learned a lot from it. The descriptions are the perfect length for those who want to understand the big picture but get bored with tons of details. Many of the photographs are stunning, and they stay away from the images that we've all seen plenty of times (the flag rising over Iwo Jima, execution of the Viet Cong guerrilla, etc). Overall, I enjoyed this collection and I recommend it for anyone who wants to brush up on their world history, although hard-core history buffs won't find anything new here.

[Marci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually didn't read all 100, although I did skim them. I loved the brief descriptions of various events which gave me better insights into some of history's greatest people (i.e. Mohammed, Alexander the Great, etc..) It was like having wikipedia of moments in time. I would like to go back over and reread this and maybe have it in the house for the kids to browse through if I ever find it on sale.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, I understood the history of what our planet has spewed out in that 2000 years, but its not up my alley in terms of a career. I read the boo cause I appreciate the milestones and what our existence means.

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