Quercus World History: 50 Events You Really Need to Know

It's said commonly that the numerous "Histories of the World or the Mankind" ever published are really only Histories of the White, Christian, Western men. This book it's not exactly as that, but approaches in some sense.The book is reasonably good between his limits, but this series of "50 facts about... everything" from Ed. Quercus has the problem that too much information has to be compressed into very few pages. Each chapter occupies exactly 4 pages.Well, another people from another countries should have his point of view. I, as Spanish can say this is a History almost only for English speaking people, with some concessions to cultures of antiquity, Rome, Egypt, China and others.We see an example of omission: in 1571 there was a crucial confrontation, with little doubt as important as D Day in II WW, the battle of Lepanto, when Spanish Army and fleet with an aid from the Vatican and Venetian Republic defeated the big menace of the Turks in Europe. This is reduced to a one or two minute mentions. It's only one example, but for me, as important than USA Civil War. So, you must judge if you are interested in such biased history.

Interesting, although some non factual assumptions are made which are based upon the interpretation of others.

本書で挙げられる個々の事柄は日本語でも知ることができます。大体の人にとって、6割ほどが既知な事柄だと思われます。私は本書をほとんど単語帳として使用しています。私はwikipediaでよく調べます。海外のことは、やはり英語版wikipediaが充実しています。同じ事柄でも、英語版では日本語版の何倍も細かく記載されていることもあります。いざ英語版を読もうと意気込みはしつつも、自分が持っている歴史語彙の貧弱さに悩まされ、挫折します。その多くは、歴史上の事柄を示す用語、微妙に語尾が変わってくる語です。例えば以下。・Crusadesは十字軍。ごく当たり前の用語ですが、知りませんでした。・Macedoniaと書かれているとマケドニアとわかりますけど、Macedonと書かれたりします。・ヘレニズム〜はHellenism 〜ではなくて、Hellenistic 〜と書かれます。英語レベルは、やはり語彙が難しめです。受験用単語帳や受験英語ではでてこない語が多く使われます。辞書を引きながらゆっくり取り組めばなんとかなります。4ページ見開きでテーマが独立していますので、その分負担は少ないはずです。ついでながら、歴史を記述する英語を本書で知ることができます。それは洋画を観るときにも活かされます。例えば、Starwarsは戦争、侵略、征服、独立の話なので、本書の近現代の戦争を読めば、ある程度語彙が整います。

The text cuts through school History which is more specific and limited to give a good working picture of history for comparative analysis with todays events

Provides a good big picture of world history and fuels discussions points.I bought this for my wife who is a very keen History buff and although she specialises in the English middle and early ages has provided additional points for discussion.