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The History of the World: From the Dawn of Humanity to the Modern Age
In a narrative beginning almost 1.5 million years ago with the emergence of Homo erectus, Frank Welsh takes the reader from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, from the Industrial Revolution to the age of terrorism.
Using his masterly storytelling skills, he recounts the epic story of human growth, survival and achievement across all continents and ages.
Providing insight into the lives of ordinary people in every corner of the globe, this comprehensive book is the perfect introduction to the human history of our planet.
Using his masterly storytelling skills, he recounts the epic story of human growth, survival and achievement across all continents and ages.
Providing insight into the lives of ordinary people in every corner of the globe, this comprehensive book is the perfect introduction to the human history of our planet.
467 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2011
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756 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
October 5, 2016
I think maybe it was too much of a task to fulfill in 500 pages or so. However, it is still something feasible with the appropriate approach and this was not it for sure. This is also affected by the blatant lack of bibliographical references and biased narration.
The author tries to cover too much and ends up with too many details with no discernible integration. The book was quite unclear at times, and at others, particularly when the details were accompanied with a thread of a story, it was pretty good. Some sections are quite appealing and clear. For me that was the story of the origin of Islam. But other sections, such as Ancient Greece, a topic which I adore and am familiar with, was not at all clear and dealt with way too quickly.
The book would've been great if it focused only in certain civilizations and eras, instead of everything. That's one star. The other is because of the bias.
Now, partiality is common and it's ok in history. It is perfectly fine and almost necessary to actually have a particular view or understanding, but bias is different. Bias is unsubstantiated and arbitrary. Now, since this author deals with too many details, facts, he (not so often, I admit) mixes his opinions in between factual data, with no particular justification or explanation, and goes on. Data, of course, is also biased in its presentation—presenting one and ignoring other pieces of information, but that's less worrisome. I know this is not a proper history book, there's barely any bibliographical reference at all, but still it is expected some degree of academic standards. That's the other star.
The author tries to cover too much and ends up with too many details with no discernible integration. The book was quite unclear at times, and at others, particularly when the details were accompanied with a thread of a story, it was pretty good. Some sections are quite appealing and clear. For me that was the story of the origin of Islam. But other sections, such as Ancient Greece, a topic which I adore and am familiar with, was not at all clear and dealt with way too quickly.
The book would've been great if it focused only in certain civilizations and eras, instead of everything. That's one star. The other is because of the bias.
Now, partiality is common and it's ok in history. It is perfectly fine and almost necessary to actually have a particular view or understanding, but bias is different. Bias is unsubstantiated and arbitrary. Now, since this author deals with too many details, facts, he (not so often, I admit) mixes his opinions in between factual data, with no particular justification or explanation, and goes on. Data, of course, is also biased in its presentation—presenting one and ignoring other pieces of information, but that's less worrisome. I know this is not a proper history book, there's barely any bibliographical reference at all, but still it is expected some degree of academic standards. That's the other star.
August 22, 2023
Painfully woke. Muslims spread their message through slaughter and oppression but they do it in a nice way, Europeans export education, railways, industry, sewage sytems, hygiene, sanitation, medicine etc but it's with nefarious colonialist intentions.
The 'white man bad' idea is the one coherent theme that runs throughout the chapters.
Quite annoying after a while. It's ok other than that though.
The 'white man bad' idea is the one coherent theme that runs throughout the chapters.
Quite annoying after a while. It's ok other than that though.
May 7, 2021
Writing a history of the world covering the period 6000 BC to early 2000s in a 400+ page book is not an easy job. I would consider the book as more a history of mankind and our continuous evolution.
The period covered in thirty chapters is preceded by an introduction on the roots and beginning of ancient humanity. The author displayed a secular/scientific view of the subject away from any religious views in holy scriptures.
The first 6 chapters cover the ancient world civilizations and gradual formation of its empires mainly the Greek, Persian, and Roman.
Chapters 7-10 cover a period where major world events occurred that did impact history in the direction to arrive with the world as we generally see today. Events such as the rise of Islam, the various formation of nations in the European continent, the Crusades, the Mongol Empire emergence and expansion. This roughly covered the period between AD 400-1400.
Chapters 11-23 cover the period which could be considered the age of change and transition to the modern world. Reformation & Renaissance, New World Exploration, the formation and development of the major world powers. With a generally European or Western scene in cultural/civilizational regards, this roughly covered the period between 1400-1900.
The bulk period of the remaining chapters covers the 20th century. The major 2 World Wars and their aftermath which I believe we still live with to this day.
There was more depth in subjects related to European or Western history and civilization. Chapters covering such subjects I believe were more rich than others.
As mentioned before, the author adopted more of a secular approach towards Religion with criticism of theology in some cases related to Christianity which I assume represents the author’s original cultural background .
With the large amount of information in the material, accuracy was lacking in several parts and areas such as in some Middle Eastern related material which I could easily pickup.
Chapter arrangement and chronology was sometimes confusing.
The author did display his independent opinions throughout the book which I believe would add value in many cases.
This book would be useful for a beginner to get a general picture of world history. There is a lot of useful information available in the material which could be used as a foundation for further reading.
I would rate the book as 3-3.5 out of 5.
The period covered in thirty chapters is preceded by an introduction on the roots and beginning of ancient humanity. The author displayed a secular/scientific view of the subject away from any religious views in holy scriptures.
The first 6 chapters cover the ancient world civilizations and gradual formation of its empires mainly the Greek, Persian, and Roman.
Chapters 7-10 cover a period where major world events occurred that did impact history in the direction to arrive with the world as we generally see today. Events such as the rise of Islam, the various formation of nations in the European continent, the Crusades, the Mongol Empire emergence and expansion. This roughly covered the period between AD 400-1400.
Chapters 11-23 cover the period which could be considered the age of change and transition to the modern world. Reformation & Renaissance, New World Exploration, the formation and development of the major world powers. With a generally European or Western scene in cultural/civilizational regards, this roughly covered the period between 1400-1900.
The bulk period of the remaining chapters covers the 20th century. The major 2 World Wars and their aftermath which I believe we still live with to this day.
There was more depth in subjects related to European or Western history and civilization. Chapters covering such subjects I believe were more rich than others.
As mentioned before, the author adopted more of a secular approach towards Religion with criticism of theology in some cases related to Christianity which I assume represents the author’s original cultural background .
With the large amount of information in the material, accuracy was lacking in several parts and areas such as in some Middle Eastern related material which I could easily pickup.
Chapter arrangement and chronology was sometimes confusing.
The author did display his independent opinions throughout the book which I believe would add value in many cases.
This book would be useful for a beginner to get a general picture of world history. There is a lot of useful information available in the material which could be used as a foundation for further reading.
I would rate the book as 3-3.5 out of 5.
December 2, 2017
The History of the World: From the Dawn of Humanity to the Modern Age hasil tulisan Frank Welsh merupakan sebuah buku yang membincangkan sejarah dunia secara ringkas tetapi padat. Walaupun demikian,saya berpandangan bahawa walaupun buku ilmiah ini menarik untuk dibaca oleh mereka yang mungkin mempunyai tahap pengetahuan sejarah dunia yang sikit atau asas. Tetapi,bagi mereka yang mungkin mahukan penyelidikan sejarah dunia yang lebih teliti dan komprehensif,mungkin perlu membaca buku yang lain.
Bermula dari bab pertama,penulis menyatakan bahawa peradaban manusia bermula pada 6000 tahun Sebelum Masihi (S.M.) dengan penemuan bukti-bukti artifak di Lembangan Danube (yang terletak di tengah dan timur Eropah) yang menunjukkan bahawa manusia sudah mula tinggal secara tetap (penempatan). Perbincangan berakhir di bab yang terakhir dengan penulis mengemukakan beberapa cabaran yang perlu dihadapi oleh manusia pada zaman moden atau kini untuk meneruskan kemandirian (survival) manusia sejagat.
Bermula dari bab pertama,penulis menyatakan bahawa peradaban manusia bermula pada 6000 tahun Sebelum Masihi (S.M.) dengan penemuan bukti-bukti artifak di Lembangan Danube (yang terletak di tengah dan timur Eropah) yang menunjukkan bahawa manusia sudah mula tinggal secara tetap (penempatan). Perbincangan berakhir di bab yang terakhir dengan penulis mengemukakan beberapa cabaran yang perlu dihadapi oleh manusia pada zaman moden atau kini untuk meneruskan kemandirian (survival) manusia sejagat.
September 28, 2025
I think the main issue with this book is the impossible task it has. The author's writing style definitely makes up for part of it, but the history of the world can not be confined to just 400 pages. What is left is just a book with no clear audience. People who already know about history will be annoyed that its so compact and glosses over details, people who don't know will be confused because no context is given and frequently it becomes a simple summing of facts.
Above all else, my main grievance with this book is that it again stays incredibly centred on the history of the west (page 404 has the subheading "Africa", but within one page, we already back on the topic of Europe). If details of European history are made to be more compact, details of South and Central America are downright forgotten.
Above all else, my main grievance with this book is that it again stays incredibly centred on the history of the west (page 404 has the subheading "Africa", but within one page, we already back on the topic of Europe). If details of European history are made to be more compact, details of South and Central America are downright forgotten.
December 18, 2022
Pretty dry and boring. He also misses a lot of important historical events, although if he were to write about all of them the book would be twice as thick. There’s also a few weird grammatical and historical inaccuracies but all-in-all the book would be good for beginner historians.
November 10, 2020
Hi don't read this book. My copy literally had typos??? Umm I didn't buy the book to be the copy editor. Also whenever I read about a section of history I felt more familiar with (ie American history) I felt the author's perspective was skewed and left out valuable information. Can only imagine what half-truths I was fed for the rest of the book
April 10, 2023
This overly ambitious, Anglo-centric attempt to sum-up all of human existence from early hominids through the modern age is hit and miss. Unfortunately, the hits are buried in tiresome, truncated accounts of context-less world events, with wide swaths of interests ignored or handled dismissively with a few lines or paragraphs--much of Asian culture and achievements, for example, get short shrift.
I suppose I ought to have known better:
Any meaningful, objective breakdown of human history cannot possibly receive justice in 240 pages, unless perhaps published in a font size that demands a magnifying-glass. Which this isn't.
It's penned by an 79-year-old former banker, who misses few opportunities to inject British self-importance and condescension, while disparaging the French whenever possible.
It's not that ex-bankers can't produce scholarly work. It's more that much better, more objectively researched histories have finally made it to the mainstream.
Having recently read Charle Mann's superb deep dive into the Americas, "1491," for example, I found Welsh's effort hollow, without humility and generally ignorant of newfound theories.
Which is odd, as he does, at some point, acknowledge that histories--and their related, accepted doctrines--do indeed evolve, which is encouraging. Sadly, he hasn't seemingly incorporated them.
On the good side, Welsh packs a hell of a lot into 240 pages. The periodic timelines that overlay significant moments across several world regions are indeed interesting.
But don't expect an evenhanded distribution of said events. Or an accounting of what might currently be seen as a controversial interpretation.
For me, the last straw was a reduction of American colonists and their legitimate grievances --in the run-up to the Revolution--as essentially a bunch of whining whiners who whined just for the sake of whining.
At that point I put the book down. Life's too short to indulge what amounts to an old man's exhaustive hobby-no matter how ambitious--disguised as serious inquiry.
I suppose I ought to have known better:
Any meaningful, objective breakdown of human history cannot possibly receive justice in 240 pages, unless perhaps published in a font size that demands a magnifying-glass. Which this isn't.
It's penned by an 79-year-old former banker, who misses few opportunities to inject British self-importance and condescension, while disparaging the French whenever possible.
It's not that ex-bankers can't produce scholarly work. It's more that much better, more objectively researched histories have finally made it to the mainstream.
Having recently read Charle Mann's superb deep dive into the Americas, "1491," for example, I found Welsh's effort hollow, without humility and generally ignorant of newfound theories.
Which is odd, as he does, at some point, acknowledge that histories--and their related, accepted doctrines--do indeed evolve, which is encouraging. Sadly, he hasn't seemingly incorporated them.
On the good side, Welsh packs a hell of a lot into 240 pages. The periodic timelines that overlay significant moments across several world regions are indeed interesting.
But don't expect an evenhanded distribution of said events. Or an accounting of what might currently be seen as a controversial interpretation.
For me, the last straw was a reduction of American colonists and their legitimate grievances --in the run-up to the Revolution--as essentially a bunch of whining whiners who whined just for the sake of whining.
At that point I put the book down. Life's too short to indulge what amounts to an old man's exhaustive hobby-no matter how ambitious--disguised as serious inquiry.
December 26, 2024
Quite a complex book but not unexpected given its attempt to cover the history of our planet in just over 430 pages.
It does cover a huge amount and also links different eras to demonstrate how countries influences change the political global picture. However, this sometimes led to the timeline jumping around within the sections.
That said it was a very interesting read with plenty of information for someone who wants to learn a bit more I’m about global history and politics.
It does cover a huge amount and also links different eras to demonstrate how countries influences change the political global picture. However, this sometimes led to the timeline jumping around within the sections.
That said it was a very interesting read with plenty of information for someone who wants to learn a bit more I’m about global history and politics.
October 1, 2017
His style makes reading trough ancient history feel less like a chore, with some interesting pieces of datum thrown in from time to time.
A casual read; more so for someone with a certain understanding and previous experience with other historical works (so you do not have to check references and names every two or three lines).
A casual read; more so for someone with a certain understanding and previous experience with other historical works (so you do not have to check references and names every two or three lines).
August 24, 2018
Since it was my first book in this genre and now I am reading other books , I can always say Frank welsh has set up a foundation for telling history and its facts in an interesting way. The book is very detailed and covers all the civilizations . Although the major focus is Greek, Sumerian but the amount of information one can get is immense
March 29, 2020
4 stars on the effort and the great deal of information!
The book was thoroughly enjoyable. The narrative style is fine. The main problem and I think the only problem probably is the content chronology.
Otherwise great achievement by Frank Welsh and a reliable source of collecting historical information for further research.
The book was thoroughly enjoyable. The narrative style is fine. The main problem and I think the only problem probably is the content chronology.
Otherwise great achievement by Frank Welsh and a reliable source of collecting historical information for further research.
December 1, 2020
It is such as complicated task to delve into all major events in history within more than 400 pages, but the writer touches upon each very briefly. The books doesn't, in any way, gives the reader the minimum knowledge needed about a certain era or war, however, it's still a good source to learn from.
It starts narating 600 BC history and concludes with the third millennium.
It starts narating 600 BC history and concludes with the third millennium.
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July 20, 2021Ringkas dan sangat padat, sehingga selalunya satu ayat mengandungi banyak isi dan peristiwa. Namun buku ini saya rasa bukanlah sepenuhnya buku akademik, sebab utamanya ialah tiadanya bahagian rujukan, baik di nota kaki mahupun nota akhir. Walau bagaimanapun, ia buku yang sesuai untuk tinjauan pantas ke masa yang lalu.
February 14, 2023
Meski saya sangat jarang membaca buku tentang sejarah, namun buku ini perlu dibaca karena memberikan informasi singkat tentang peristiwa-peristiwa besar yang terjadi di seluruh dunia. Mulai dari pra-abad pertengahan hingga dunia modern.
Buku yang dtulis oleh seorang ahli sejarah ini sayangnya minim foto. Agak terkejut juga saya menemukan foto Pasukan Terakota, dari sedikit foto yang ada.
Buku yang dtulis oleh seorang ahli sejarah ini sayangnya minim foto. Agak terkejut juga saya menemukan foto Pasukan Terakota, dari sedikit foto yang ada.
February 18, 2024
A delightful read that details the progression of humanity and countries. It is not an easy read as it requires additional readings to understand the names and ancient civilisations mentioned but it is competent in putting our time on earth in perspective. I read the book 3-4 times and have learnt a great deal from it.
September 5, 2020
For the ages of history I had some prior knowledge of this was a decent recap, but for the new content I found it to be a dizzying and dry list of names, dates and places. I did enjoy Welsh's little comments here and there (especially regarding inconsistencies in the USA narrative + story).
April 30, 2024
This is about as entertaining as a bag of rocks but if one happens to be new to the planet and is interested in a very Eurocentric history of humanity then this hits all the high points. There’s very little detail and almost nothing in the way of motivations, but the names and dates are here.
November 23, 2024
The author was not a trained historian. He was a banker. The content is very messy. Difficult to understand. There are no notes/references. Better spend time on reading the proper history books written by the real professionals.
June 25, 2017
There should've been a word 'concise' somewhere between 'the' and 'history'. But, overall brilliantly written in good prose. Not so good for a person without a prior exposure to the world history.
June 9, 2018
Concise and informative, if not groundbreaking.
March 13, 2019
Too much information in less than 500 pages .... most are unclear for insufficient pages...
April 1, 2020
I did not really enjoy this book. I was expecting, well, the history of the world. Instead I got a very difficult to read and opiniated historic view of the world.
July 20, 2020
Galopā pa Eiropu.
Bez labām priekšzināšanām vēsturē neiesaku.
Bez labām priekšzināšanām vēsturē neiesaku.
July 17, 2021
Not very satisfying, everything seemed rushed. Didn't really enjoy it. The Epilogue was the best chapter by far.
January 22, 2023
Writing about three thousand years worth of events is a daunting task. This book manages it in four hundred or so pages.
I appreciate that.
I appreciate that.
July 3, 2023
Load of crap!
September 22, 2024
قرأته مابين 1439-2018 و 1441-2020
الكتاب جيد للمبتدئين رغم وجود مشاكل كثيرة فيه كإختصار الأحداث التاريخية أو ذكرها من وجهة نظر غربية .
الكتاب جيد للمبتدئين رغم وجود مشاكل كثيرة فيه كإختصار الأحداث التاريخية أو ذكرها من وجهة نظر غربية .
October 16, 2024
A concise history subtitled, From the Dawn of Humanity to the Modern Age. A good, quick refresher even for those of us who are avid readers of history.
August 18, 2018
I have a lot of gripes with this book but I'll start with some of the good things. The book is very accessible, its great to build a historical framework and to form historical literacy. It spans the time from when Homo-sapiens first appear to the Arab Spring, he mentions all the dates and events with accuracy. All of this is under 500 pages, so it's great for value.
My misgivings are that he is incredibly reductive at times and tends to trivialise certain events while overstating others. I see this with regards to Middle Eastern history, perhaps because I'm more familiar with it, where he gives unfounded conclusions as to why certain events might have occurred or what was the motivation behind them. For example, he says this "Morrocco, founded by a descendant of Ali, and therefore Shia." he says that the fact that the Idrisids are descendants of Ali, therefore, they where Shia even though the founder of the dynasty, Idris I, professed to be a Sunni of the Maliki rite. This was just one example of many, however, I think that such details might be of issue for a serious student of history, say studying for a degree; but for everyone else, I think that such details are minuscule and aren't that much of a problem.
All in all, I think that if you have zero historical literacy and want to build a framework without reading multiple books, then this book will be alright for you.
My misgivings are that he is incredibly reductive at times and tends to trivialise certain events while overstating others. I see this with regards to Middle Eastern history, perhaps because I'm more familiar with it, where he gives unfounded conclusions as to why certain events might have occurred or what was the motivation behind them. For example, he says this "Morrocco, founded by a descendant of Ali, and therefore Shia." he says that the fact that the Idrisids are descendants of Ali, therefore, they where Shia even though the founder of the dynasty, Idris I, professed to be a Sunni of the Maliki rite. This was just one example of many, however, I think that such details might be of issue for a serious student of history, say studying for a degree; but for everyone else, I think that such details are minuscule and aren't that much of a problem.
All in all, I think that if you have zero historical literacy and want to build a framework without reading multiple books, then this book will be alright for you.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews