The Oxford Illustrated History of the World

by Felipe Fernández-Armesto (editor)

Imagine the planet, as if from an immense distance of time and space, as a galactic observer might see it—with the kind of objectivity that we, who are enmeshed in our history, can´t attain.The Oxford Illustrated History of the World encompasses the whole span of human history. It brings together some of the world's leading historians, under the expert guidance of Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, to tell the 200,000-year story of our world, from the emergence of homo sapiens through to the twenty-first the environmental convulsions; the interplay of ideas (good and bad); the cultural phases and exchanges; the collisions and collaborations in politics; the successions ofstates and empires; the unlocking of energy; the evolutions of economies; the contacts, conflicts, and contagions that have all contributed to making the world we now inhabit.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World History

493 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2019

About the author

Felipe Fernández-Armesto is a British professor of history at the University of Notre Dame and author of several popular works, notably on cultural and environmental history.

Reviews

[Amrit Sufi]

Now that I have read world history I feel the urge to display some pompous superiority to those who haven't. Having read about the causes behind post modern ways of thinking, it is also tempting now to let go of my literary pretentious way of expressing myself, but since I'm still writing like this it seems like I won't.

[Eden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had lots of nitpicks with it, but a great book nonetheless. The effects of climate change on human history (largely missing from world histories written before the 2010s) were enlightening to learn about. A lot more research is still needed to paint a more refined picture, but I'm glad historians are beginning to take it into account. I was quite surprised by the revival of the idea of the "dark ages" again due to the focus on climate change. The grand sweeps made throughout the book focusing on themes were striking. The last two parts dealt mostly with intellectual, political and cultural aspects of the last two centuries. The scholars chosen for this book were good choices.

At a time when we are probably entering a new era of world history, this book feels like a great encapsulation of everything up to this point.

[F J Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative and clearly written book, which promotes an enligthened view of history, looking at how geographical, metereological, social, ethnic issues have influenced human history. Every chapter is written by an acknowledged academic expert, and the illustrations are fascinating and telling. I personally found
'A History of the World in 7 Cheap Things' more compelling, but the chapter called 'The Anthropocene Epoch' covers much the same areas. The book, for me, could have more harshly critiqued capitalism, foregrounding the destructive effects of unbridled neo-liberal economics.

[Ana]

Bought book at Hatchard’s on Sunday August 20th 2023 on Piccadilly St London

[Lara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading for uni

[Wang · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't the history of the world that I expected but I am glad I was offered a different perspective, climate change. It's no kidding. Climate change was pivotal in the history and will be in the future. Now back to the book, it's a daunting task of write a book on the world history in so few pages considering around one-fifth is illustration, which doesn't make sense all the time. The writers for the book were a few. Some wrote better others. Chief editor Felipe Fernández-Armesto wrote about idea just as his latest book. That's the problem of the book as for me. You will eventually find yourself familiar with most of the content of the book. So few pages can only illustrate what the most important events of the world are, which might be too well known for you if you were educated well enough.

[Alex]

I managed to get halfway through it, but I think I'd rather read several books with more detail. This one is often too broad for me to stay interested, and I also really don't click with the style of one or two of the chapter authors.