A Little History of the World

In simple, vivid prose, Gombrich surveys the human past from pre-history to his own time. . . . Lucky children will have this book read to them. Intelligent adults will read it for themselves and regain contact with the spirit of European humanism at its best.Anthony Grafton, Wall Street Journal This little history has aged amazingly well.New York Times Book Review A marvellous antidote to history without chronology: the whole experience of human history, from prehistory to the Second World War, compressed into a flowing narrative. . . . [Gombrich] excels in creating a sense of the continuities of historythe ways in which human nature has not budged over the millennium, and the smallness of the differences between people. A delight.Daily Telegraph Gombrich opens with the most magical definition of history I have ever read. . . . Tolerance, reason and humanity . . . suffuse every page of the Little History.Amanda Vickery, Guardian Review Gombrich knows precisely how to converse with his audience, intelligent children between nine and thirteen. He uses powerful imagery to convey the sheer length of time that separates us from the dinosaurs.Andrew Roberts, FT Magazine The book is intellectually valuable, and unusual; rather than breaking history into eras or artificial categories . . . Gombrich contextualizes them all and gives the vast unfolding of the Western world one wise, simple narrative. . . . For adults, it is full of delightful reminders as well as forgotten or never-known tidbits. As for younger readers . . . [the book] is a treasure for them.Katie Haegele, Philadelphia Inquirer I am going to buy ten copies of this book and give it to my ten favourite children. . . . This is a book which teaches what it is to be civilised by its very tone, which is one of gentleness, curiosity and erudition.A. N. Wilson, Times Literary Supplement What was the bestselling title this Christmas at Foyles in London? Hilary Mantels Man Booker Prizewinning Wolf Hall? Stieg Larssons The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? Cormac McCarthys The Road? Dan Browns The Lost Symbol? No. It was E. H. Gombrichs A Little History of the World.Mark Sanderson, Sunday Telegraph A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich is a bedtime treat to share with my two children and proof that brilliance and perspicacity neednt be stuffy.Bettany Hughes, The Times A remarkable book, written in an amiable, conversational style, effortlessly explaining, without condescension, difficult matters like the achievements of Charlemagne, the monetary system of medieval Europe and the ideas of the Enlightenment. . . . This resurrected history deserves reading for all its delights.Edward Rothstein, New York Times So sharp was Gombrichs intelligence and so lively his pen that it can be appreciated as much as literature as history. . . . There is not one of the 39 short chapters that is not enlivened by a sharp insight or arresting image.Tim Blanning, Sunday Telegraph A enduring joy. . . . We have no shortage of historians eager to tell us what was important in the past and why; but few of them dare speak straight to the imagination of young people, to open their minds and to enrich their vision in the manner that Gombrich achieves so effortlessly here.Peter Furtado, Times Higher Education Supplement A sophisticated narrative by the art historian which runs up to the First World War, written in language any child can understand.Lorna Bradbury, Daily Telegraph "A remarkable book, written in an amiable, conversational style, effortlessly explaining, without condescension, difficult matters like the achievements of Charlemagne, the monetary system of medieval Europe and the ideas of the Enlightenment. . . . This resurrected history deserves reading for all its delights."Edward Rothstein, New York Times This is

E. H. Gombrich (19092001) was the author of many works, including the international bestsellers The Story of Art and Art and Illusion. He was director of the Warburg Institute of the University of London from 1959 to 1976.