‘A Little History of the World’
An important book that everyone should read and/or listen to glimpse the long view
In teaching world history, I would have students read or listen to Austrian historian E.H. Gombrich‘s “Little History of the World.” It’s very accessible, even for middle school and high school students, and a profound read for adults as well. First published in 1936, it has become a bestseller in English since it was finally translated and published in 2005.
In this post, I quote extensively from the book, explain and critique it. But I would tell my students that what I have to say is no substitute for listening to and reading the little book in its full context. For those who have trouble sitting still reading for a long time, the audio version is embedded below so you can listen while walking, driving a car, doing chores, or working out. It takes about nine hours to listen to the whole thing — a worthy way to spend a couple of weeks.
Wise Words from E.H. Gombrich’s ‘Little History of the World’ Quotes were first highlighted by users of Goodreads.com.
On Studying History: “The history of the world is, sadly, not a pretty poem. It offers little variety, and it is nearly always the unpleasant things that are repeated, over and over again.”
People Need to Know Their Own History: “It’s a bad idea to try to prevent people from knowing their own history. If you want to do anything new you must first make sure you know what people have tried before.”
What You Can Learn From History: “Children grow up too, and they too must learn from history how easy it is for human beings to be transformed into inhuman beings through incitement and intolerance.”
On Ancient Climate Change: “The Ice Age lasted for an unimaginably long time. Many tens of thousands of years, which was just as well, for otherwise these people would not have had time to invent all these things. But gradually the earth grew warmer and the ice retreated to the high mountains, and people – who by now were much like us – learnt, with the warmth, to plant grasses and then grind the seeds to make a paste which they could bake in the fire, and this was bread.”
Tribal Nature of Humanity: “These tribes differed little from one another, either in appearance or in language. They spoke different dialects, which they could all understand if they chose. But they very rarely did. For, as is often the case, these close-related, neighbouring tribes were unable to get on with one another. They spent all their time exchanging insults and ridicule, when actually they were jealous of each other.”
A Buddhist truth: “I know a wise Buddhist monk who, in a speech to his fellow countrymen, once said he’d love to know why someone who boasts that he is the cleverest, the strongest, the bravest or the most gifted man on earth is thought ridiculous and embarrassing, whereas if, instead of ‘I’, he says, ‘we are the most intelligent, the strongest, the bravest and the most gifted people on earth’, his fellow countrymen applaud enthusiastically and call him a patriot. For there is nothing patriotic about it. One can be attached to one’s own country without needing to insist that the rest of the world’s inhabitants are worthless. But as more and more people were taken in by this sort of nonsense, the menace to peace grew greater.”
The book was initially written for children and adolescents, but the Nazis rejected it as too pacifist and banned it. It is now acclaimed as a very accessible and digestible world history in 40 short chapters of less than 300 pages or about nine hours in audio format. It is great for parents or grandparents to read aloud with children or to simply read the text again and again, and learn something every time.
The table of contents can be reviewed here. It is, of course, an oversimplified history of the world, it may have a Eurocentric bias, and certain chapters express a Judeo-Christian perspective. But it’s a good starting place for anyone.
In the Literary Review of London, Allan Massie wrote, “Of course, it is not really a history of the world.”
“Though there are chapters on China and India and the Muslim world, it is essentially a history of Western civilization,” he went on. “Other civilizations and cultures matter as they impinge on Europe. So it might appear unsuitable for our multicultural times. Yet I am not sure about that.”
The first 14 chapters focus on BC time — Before the Common Era. Some 24 chapters are devoted to the first through the 19th centuries. The final two chapters are devoted to the 20th century. Gombrich updated his book before he died in 2001.
It inspired
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