'History of the World' by J. M. Roberts (History of the World - JM Roberts)

Name: Kathryn

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Product:	History of the World - JM Roberts
Date:	10/07/00 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent scholarship

Disadvantages: none

This 1109 page book relates the human story from the first emergence of the genus Homo to the end of the Cold War. It goes without saying that a book with such a broad scope as this must of necessity deal with trends and generalities. The book does however do a very good job of balancing the need to provide a general sketch with the need to provide interesting and detailed accounts that engross the reader and prevent it from being a dry stream of facts. It is a remarkable achievement that one person should distil this amount of information into a single coherent and enjoyable volume.

Anyone who wants to learn about specific periods of history will need to supplement this book with other books dedicated to the particular subject of interest, however this book gives the framework that will put everything else into context as well as give a well judged general account. I've read (or am currently reading) some other overviews of world history (World History, Parragon, 1994; The Times Concise Atlas of World History, Times Books, 1994; The Timechart History of the World, Third Millennium Trust, 1997) but this is the one that has given me the greatest appreciation of our past.

The third edition (1995) is published by Penguin and is entitled 'The Penguin History of the World'.

Summary: