We all know fragments of history such as Magna Carta or Henry VIII and his six wives, but how many of us can put these events into the context of what was going on at the same time throughout the world? This magnificent book from National Geographic gives the reader the full sweep of world history, starting with the arrival of humankind "Out of Africa" from 100,000 to 3500 BCE. We learn how sea levels dropped and humans were able to move from their origins in eastern Africa to Egypt, India, China, the New World, and even islands like Britain. Each chapter features an influential artefact of its era, including the Code of Hammurabi from Babylon in the second millennium BCE, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Koran, Luther's 95 theses that changed the face of Europe in the 16th century, the US constitution, Darwin's On the Origin of Species and, in our own time, the 9/11 Commission Report. The journey begins with Paintings on the Wall, a study of the world's first civilizations. It spans Lies on Parchment: The Classical Age in the Mediterranean; Living Scrolls: The Golden Age of the East; Burning Books: The Postclassical Era; Tales of Chivalry: The High Middle Ages; Secret Signatures: Exploration, Renaissance, and Reformation; The Orators: Enlightenment and Revolution; Promises for a New Century: Industry and Imperialism; Words of Anger, Regret, and Hope: The World at War; and, Divining the Future: The Modern Era. At the bottom of each page there is a timeline of major world events, and a section at the end of each chapter draws attention to roughly simultaneous occurrences, for instance the Roman emperor Trajan and the use of paper as the medium of communication in China. Throughout the book there are features on the "voices" of the period, including excerpts from letters, speeches, poetry and prose. The eighth century Chinese poet Du Fu in The Deserted Wife wrote "All things are like the puffing out of a candle", while Mary Wollstonecraft, in A Vindication of the Rights of Women, wrote that men do not rule over her "unless the reason of an individual demands my homage". Pages from the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 are reproduced, showing provisions for war graves and reparations made by Germany after World War I. There are also feature boxes giving a verdict on individuals, and each page has a "takeaway", summing up its content in a single sentence. 464pp, chronologies, timelines, colour photos on every page, feature boxes, diagrams, maps.
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