History of the World, The Penguin: Revised Edition (Penguin History) [Paperback]

J. M. Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Series: Penguin History | Publication Date: August 1, 1995

First published in 1976 to great acclaim, this major one-volume history has been fully revised for this third edition and contains 90 maps. "A work of outstanding breadth of scholarhip and penetrating judgments. There is nothing better of its kind.--Sunday Telegraph

Product Details

• Paperback: 1168 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Third Edition edition (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140154957
• ISBN-13: 978-0140154955
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a fascinating book for the patient reader, December 1, 2000

By 

Friso Hermans (CT, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: History of the World, The Penguin: Revised Edition (Penguin History) (Paperback)

This is a fascinating read, worth reading and rereading. It will give you a background for every event in world history and in the headlines. It gives a sense of the sweep of history that could not possibly be given in any less ambitious format. I disagree that there are no overarching themes in the book, I pick out two big ones. One is that to understand events at any time in history you have to know what went before. He carries this to its logical extreme by starting with the big bang, and it allows him to present history with no arbitrary boundaries. That is fun! His second theme is the prime place of Europe in world history. Roberts argues that while many cultures have contributed their own strand to the world culture, the European contribution is the largest. For this reason, events in Europe get more play than those in any other part of the world. While this might strike some as Eurocentric, it strikes me as Roberts' best efforts to make clear why our world is the way it is today. I recommend it very highly for the PATIENT reader. If you can get past the Sumerians you've got it made.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The sweep of history made real, July 26, 2000

By 

Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: History of the World, The Penguin: Revised Edition (Penguin History) (Paperback)

This book consists of 1109 pages of dense historical facts and analyses from the early beginnings of civilization right up to 1995. It was a long hard read and impossible to totally grasp it all. There's just too much information packed into tight paragraphs and a presupposition that the reader is familiar with the material.

I was determined to read it however, and absorb as much as I could, and so I just kept reading, letting my eyes skim over parts I couldn't quite understand. I pushed on through with the intention of getting a general understanding even though I knew I'd never remember all the names of kings, battles, and constantly changing borders of countries.

The author is British and the book a bit Eurocentric, but he did manage to include the whole globe in a somewhat confusing way. Sometimes he'd jump from Europe to Asia to the Middle East all on one page. And then from century to century. It was an ambitious undertaking. I applaud him for it. And I must say that it did make the sweep of history very real for me.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, Great Reference, August 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: History of the World, The Penguin: Revised Edition (Penguin History) (Paperback)

I read this book cover to cover five years ago and have been using it ever since as a reference book. It's a great read if you like an urbane, erudite "Oxford (or is it Cambridge?) don" style, and Roberts is careful about stating grand theories as though they were incontrovertible fact. All in all, a wonderful comprehensive world history. I'm buying a second copy for my 19 year old nephew who is studying history.