Product Description

Wells had an intense curiosity and used it to investigate and share the entire history of the world in a condensed form. Wells, the great science fiction writer who wrote The War of the Worlds and The Invisible Man, was fascinated with the real world just as much as his imaginary ones. This book is a testament to his genius and immense knowledge involving the key events of humanity throughout the history of the world. He allows us to witness how we learned, grew, and reached deeper understandings throughout our physical, intellectual, and spiritual evolution. He also reveals that we are still in our infancy and have only just begun an immense and important journey. The pattern he lays out shows that we are moving toward new ways of understanding, growth, and wisdom.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #466892 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
H. G. Wells (1866–1946), one of the founding voices of visionary science fiction, published more than one hundred books, including novels, histories, essays, and programs for world regeneration.
Norman Stone is professor of international relations at Bilkent University, Ankara.
Michael Sherborne is curriculum manager of English and humanities at Luton Sixth Form College.
Jay Winter is a professor of history at Yale.
Patrick Parrinder has written on H.G. Wells, science fiction, James Joyce and the history of the English novel.
Andy Sawyer is a librarian at the University of Sheffield.

Customer Reviews

The World in One Volume
If you have ever wondered about how history hangs together, then this is the book for you. From the dawn of civilization to the modern era, Wells takes you along the journey of civilization (and pre-civilization -- the first few chapters of the book cover geology and evolution). This tome, and if ever a volume merited the word this is it, carries you along the way with Alexander, Persian Kings, Khans, Crusaders, Chinese Emperors, Popes, French Citizens, Tsars, and Kaisers. The sweep of characters, times and places includes a wonderful vista of history, all together and seen in relation to its entirety.

Yes, it's dated. Yes, it's slanted. H. G. Wells is very Victorian in his ethics. His politics were Fabian Socialist so you will find a distinct undercurrent for a socialist world government driving the story along. He is as un-Eurocentric as you could expect for the time: Europe and the Middle East take up the majority of the book, China and India play the next biggest role, followed distantly by Africa, Australia and the Americas.

The flaws are few given the task, the style is immensely readable, and the man who wrote The War of the Worlds, Time Machine, The Invisible Man and the Island of Doctor Moreau knows how to tell a story. Wells had the nerve to take on the World and the world gets a ripping good yarn with Mankind as the hero. You're part of the story; why not read it?

Also if you liked this book, you might enjoy:

Guns, Germs, and Steel : The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

Democratic Ideas and Reality by Halford J. Mackinder

Erudite, vivid, and entertaining...essential reading.
This is the book that had such a powerful impact on Malcolm X. Its easy to see why. The history of the world is vividly outlined in an erudite and readable style. (Ever since I read `The Time Machine' when I was sixteen, I have considered Wells to be the clearest writer of prose in the English language.) Wells takes us from the very beginning of life right up to the League of Nations in 1922, stopping off at most points in-between: Neolithic cavemen, Periclean Athens, Roman and Byzantium civilisations, the life of Jesus, Confucius and Lao Tse, the rise of Islam, the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, discovery of America, the Industrial Revolution, World War I, and so on. The book is breathtaking in its scope, but Wells manages to give a succinct, vivid and comprehensive view of world history. I have found myself re-reading many of the chapters and I do not doubt that I will soon be re-reading the book in its entirety. There is little to criticise in this book - maybe it is a little Euro-centric; in the last chapters he does tend to labour his point a bit; and the early chapters are a little dated as we now know so much more about the evolution of our species. These are mere quibbles. Read it and become informed. Read it and be entertained.

A Masterpiece
Writing a history of the world that is fun to read, easy to understand, and not a gazillion pages long is no easy task. Wells has done it in a masterful way.

This is a book for all ages as it is written in an extremely simple and clear manner.