The Outline of History, SET of 2 Volums. Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind (VOLUME 1 AND VOLUME 2)
Wells was a man of astonishing intellectual range and capacity. Combining this natural and astute intelligence with the literary style for which he was famous and you end up with this superbly well-crafted work of history. It isn't a flawless masterpiece (what book is?), and it isn't a professional history (hence its appeal), but, considering its aim and size, The Outline of History comes pretty close to being a masterpiece within its own genre. It attempts to relate the story of man to men, and to the extent that it directs its tale to the layman, by which criterion it must ultimately be judged, it succeeds.
It is significant that Wells sub-styled his work "The Whole History of Man," and that the frontispiece of the older edition describes it as "being a plain history of life and mankind." This is not world history, the way certain more recent histories style themselves (I'm thinking of J.M. Roberts and such like). Rather, this is distinctly man's history, and the "story" of man at that: the emphasis is not accidental. Even when Wells deals with the great figures, Emperors, and tragic events of the past, he always speaks, as it were, from the soul of his subjects. He is a scientist, but he doesn't write like one. He writes with a sense of interiority, of culture, of delicate balances, of shifting sympathies, sweeping forces, torrid winds and terrific calamities. He pauses to explain some oddity here or there, or mentions an anomaly, and then connects it back to the structure of the modern world, even venturing its inevitability in the human landscape (his short divagation on the Gypsies in Volume ii is a perfect example of this). He is sensitive to psychology in the explanation of human affairs. All this makes his book, as it professes to be, a story of man. A reader will note the difference when reading some new-fangled "history of the world" or "international history" which too often focus unduly on--and present history as--the unfolding of events rather than the unleashing of complex psychologies, cultures and drives. This connectedness and rootedness in its subject-matter, to say nothing of Wells' literary grace and patient skill, is what makes the work a joy to read. It made the book a phenomenon in its day, and all but spawned the other "outline" or "story" works of the time (such as Durant's The Story of Philosophy, van Loon's The Story of Mankind, Gombrich's The Story of Art, etc).
Great, timeless history
The existing review understates the value of The History of the World. This book is a work of genius. It is also an excellent read. If you love history, you will love (and learn from) this book.
HG Wells at his finest
HG Wells' learned and amusing style leads you through an outline history of planet Earth. Wells is one of the most accomplished popular writers of the last century, and his talents are on full display here. Think of it as a history survey course that you will actually enjoy reading.
This work was a huge best seller back in the day. Wells has an opinion on every era and its foibles and successes. The Romans don't come off too well: Wells asks why, despite their long running empire, the Romans never sought to explore beyond their limited empire (such as into the Atlantic) or develop scientificly. The Prophet Mohammed is praised for inventing a practical religion that the average person can relate to, but criticized for being sloppy with his domestic affairs (thus setting the stage for the Shia - Sunni conflict that continues to run today). All other epochs of history receive similar accurate and humorously insightful treatment. You will be more learned and informed of your context as a member of homo sapiens after reading this two volume work.
The book was first written in the 1920s, with updates thereafter, even after Wells' death in 1946. Given the huge outpouring of historical writing today, it is fun to find a work that easily holds its own with the best our modern, Internet, instant age can offer. Read it, it is still relevant, and fun.
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MagnificentWells was a man of astonishing intellectual range and capacity. Combining this natural and astute intelligence with the literary style for which he was famous and you end up with this superbly well-crafted work of history. It isn't a flawless masterpiece (what book is?), and it isn't a professional history (hence its appeal), but, considering its aim and size, The Outline of History comes pretty close to being a masterpiece within its own genre. It attempts to relate the story of man to men, and to the extent that it directs its tale to the layman, by which criterion it must ultimately be judged, it succeeds.
It is significant that Wells sub-styled his work "The Whole History of Man," and that the frontispiece of the older edition describes it as "being a plain history of life and mankind." This is not world history, the way certain more recent histories style themselves (I'm thinking of J.M. Roberts and such like). Rather, this is distinctly man's history, and the "story" of man at that: the emphasis is not accidental. Even when Wells deals with the great figures, Emperors, and tragic events of the past, he always speaks, as it were, from the soul of his subjects. He is a scientist, but he doesn't write like one. He writes with a sense of interiority, of culture, of delicate balances, of shifting sympathies, sweeping forces, torrid winds and terrific calamities. He pauses to explain some oddity here or there, or mentions an anomaly, and then connects it back to the structure of the modern world, even venturing its inevitability in the human landscape (his short divagation on the Gypsies in Volume ii is a perfect example of this). He is sensitive to psychology in the explanation of human affairs. All this makes his book, as it professes to be, a story of man. A reader will note the difference when reading some new-fangled "history of the world" or "international history" which too often focus unduly on--and present history as--the unfolding of events rather than the unleashing of complex psychologies, cultures and drives. This connectedness and rootedness in its subject-matter, to say nothing of Wells' literary grace and patient skill, is what makes the work a joy to read. It made the book a phenomenon in its day, and all but spawned the other "outline" or "story" works of the time (such as Durant's The Story of Philosophy, van Loon's The Story of Mankind, Gombrich's The Story of Art, etc).
Great, timeless history
The existing review understates the value of The History of the World. This book is a work of genius. It is also an excellent read. If you love history, you will love (and learn from) this book.
HG Wells at his finest
HG Wells' learned and amusing style leads you through an outline history of planet Earth. Wells is one of the most accomplished popular writers of the last century, and his talents are on full display here. Think of it as a history survey course that you will actually enjoy reading.
This work was a huge best seller back in the day. Wells has an opinion on every era and its foibles and successes. The Romans don't come off too well: Wells asks why, despite their long running empire, the Romans never sought to explore beyond their limited empire (such as into the Atlantic) or develop scientificly. The Prophet Mohammed is praised for inventing a practical religion that the average person can relate to, but criticized for being sloppy with his domestic affairs (thus setting the stage for the Shia - Sunni conflict that continues to run today). All other epochs of history receive similar accurate and humorously insightful treatment. You will be more learned and informed of your context as a member of homo sapiens after reading this two volume work.
The book was first written in the 1920s, with updates thereafter, even after Wells' death in 1946. Given the huge outpouring of historical writing today, it is fun to find a work that easily holds its own with the best our modern, Internet, instant age can offer. Read it, it is still relevant, and fun.
City JournalThe Godfather of American LiberalismThese antidemocratic and elitist assumptions were nowhere better illustrated than in the extraordinary career of a Briton, HG Wells. Wells is best remembered today as the author of such late-nineteenth-century socio-scientific fantasies as The Time
There's nothing inherently wrong with HG Wells' literary science fiction classic. Guy builds time machine, goes to the future, finds humanity's made a real mess of itself, goes even further into the future and witnesses the end of the Earth,
Geeks of DoomMovie Review: Terminator SalvationThe concepts of time travel and how the slightest mistake in the past can have large scale consequences in the future have been explored in popular fiction for more than a century by authors such as HG Wells and Ray Bradbury. The Terminator movies took