The Story of the Bible

by Hendrik Willem van Loon (Illustrator)

1923. European born and educated, van Loon was a professor at Antioch College and lectured at Harvard, Cornell, and the University of Munich. He was the winner of the first John Newbery Medal and received worldwide acclaim for the many books that he both wrote and illustrated. Among his most beloved are The Story of America, The Life and Times of Rembrandt and this volume, The Story of the Bible. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Genres: Religion, History, Spirituality, Philosophy, Nonfiction

508 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Hendrik Willem van Loon (January 14, 1882 – March 11, 1944) was a Dutch-American historian and journalist.

Born in Rotterdam, he went to the United States in 1903 to study at Cornell University. He was a correspondent during the Russian Revolution of 1905 and in Belgium in 1914 at the start of World War I. He later became a professor of history at Cornell University (1915-17) and in 1919 became an American citizen.

From the 1910s until his death, Van Loon wrote many books. Most widely known among these is The Story of Mankind, a history of the world especially for children, which won the first Newbery Medal in 1922. The book was later updated by Van Loon and has continued to be updated, first by his son and later by other historians.

However, he also wrote many other very popular books aimed at young adults. As a writer he was known for emphasizing crucial historical events and giving a complete picture of individual characters, as well as the role of the arts in history. He also had an informal style which, particularly in The Story of Mankind, included personal anecdotes.

Reviews

[Jonathan]

It took me longer to read this summary book than it might take someone to read the actual thing. I got stuck somewhere in the Old Testament, where names abound and so much happens that it's like nothing were happening. What helped me finish, though, were the thoughts and commentaries of the author: very interesting, insightful, and à-propos.

[CrunchyApple]

I couldn't finish the book because the stories are not true to the Bible. I am not sure if it is the translation or the author. I may give it a try later when I have the original version.

Due to the the fame of the author and his sharp understanding of human nature, I am willing to try another book of his.

[Hachimaru]

This is awful. It seems that the original book was simply scanned and converted into the digital text maybe without human eyes and hands. However, though including some words without notices for political correctness as it was written in 1920's, the original work is well written and very useful for people ignorant of Christianity like me.

[Hugo Li]

很精彩的史实故事，很多情节让我想起《权游》中的情节。此外，想起中国的《尚书》，包含（远）古代帝王统治故事，当然《尚书》要薄很多。历史诠释作为一种理念/信念的保留与传播方式。

[Stacie]

I cannot give this book more than one star because it is not True to the Scripture it is meant to be re-telling. It is unfortunate because it is a book of great physical beauty, and I really enjoy the author/illustrator’s art-work and even (mostly) like his writing style. BUT He doesn’t seem to believe in the Providence of God and speaks in a way that diminishes miracles and God’s power. There were a number of statements throughout that I found quite troubling and to not exactly reflect what I read in Scripture. I would never recommend this book, really to anyone, and especially not to a person that wasn’t already strong in their faith and well-versed in their Scripture-reading.

[Duane Erikson]

meh; i did like the original art work.

[William Cenlam]

458/458
The author used his special eyes help us to understand better about the Bible and dwelled about our modern life. Darkness of human heart and also brilliant human heart, always against each other. It told us some summaries about the Bible and also the relationship between Jewish and the Bible and also the Bible's logic.
And also gave us some ideas about the background about the Bible and also the relationship with Jewish. It helped me to understand more about Christian and also Western culture and also some themes in the Bible, such as snake and apple.
but the only bad thing to this book is too loquacious.

[Kest Schwartzman]

I LOVE the print quality of the illustrations. I picked up a number of Van Loons out of an old man's trash, just for the images. Each one is worthy of framing.

Turns out the text is also pretty hilarious.

[Daniel]

he irreverently called the Bible "the national Jewish scrapbook"

[CaptKirk42 Classic Whovian]

My copy is a very old pre-ISBN copy.

[Edith]

John Jordan and I read this book for part of his Bible course and I made worksheet questions for all 436 pages of it. Quite a job, let me tell you. Very glad to be done.

[John Doe]

brief history of Jewish people

[Reading]

《圣经故事》（美）亨德里克·威廉·房龙。

这个版本是完整版吗？

[Artemis]

No finish reading it totally.

[Diana]

It might be appropriate for children or young adults. It was inadequate for me on all levels.

[Xialin]

Easy to read. good summary.