The New Penguin History of the World: Fourth Edition [Paperback]

J. M. Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0141007230 | ISBN-13: 978-0141007236 | Edition: 4

From humanity’s origins on the African Savannah to the state of the world after September 11, 2001, The New Penguin History of the World offers a magisterial sweep through time and history. Completely updated and revised by preeminent historian J. M. Roberts, this volume features ninety up-to-date maps, new sections, and extremely well-written and accessible articles throughout. Truly global and comprehensive, it succeeds in conveying the staggering diversity of the human experience across a vast range of climates and conditions. This is the one book for anyone interested in the variety and grandeur of history’s march.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A work of outstanding breadth of scholarship and penetrating judgments. There is nothing better of its kind. (Jonathan Sumption, Sunday Telegraph) Anyone who wants an outline grasp of history, the core of all subjects, can grasp it here. (The Economist)

About the Author

J. M. Roberts (1928–2003) was warden of Merton College, Oxford, and one of our greatest contemporary historians.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1248 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 4 edition (August 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141007230
• ISBN-13: 978-0141007236
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #982,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read for western-orientated history buffs, June 5, 2005

By 

Jonny Harman "dreamconsciousness.com" (Moscow, Russia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Penguin History of the World: Fourth Edition (Paperback)

I feel that two things need to be accepted if this book is going to be appreciated.

First:

Roberts one-way-or-another justifies the emphasis that he places on Europe (and especially Western Europe) and (later) on America in account of the fact that these areas are largely influential in the world today. In this sense, it is more a history of the modern world - and of events that brought this about - rather than of the world as it may have been at any selected time in history. Given this logic, areas like China, for example, tend to receive attention more proportional to Roberts' assumptions on their place in the world at the time of writing, rather than in respect to how powerful and influential they may once have been (or may soon become).

Accordingly, this history starts off more-or-less in the traditional way, with much emphasis being placed on the early Middle Eastern / Mediterranean civilisations (the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, etc). It then progresses comfortably to the rise and fall of Rome (and the Greco-Roman Empire) and then to the tumultuous rise of (especially Western) Europe to world supremacy. As we know, this then passes on to America and (for a while) Russia.

All the other main players, such as Japan, China, India, and the Ottoman Empire (to name only a handful) receive their due chapters (often with much emphasis on how they affected or otherwise failed to affect Europe). Then of course such civilisations as those once belonging to the Americas get their coverage partly because we've heard of them, partly because it's important to see how Western civilisations swept them away, and partly (I venture to say) because without the Americas the book would hardly seem geographically balanced.

What I am getting at here is that this book might disappoint some people who want for a more balanced perspective on history, but it shouldn't significantly bother anyone who is happy to read the chain of events as outlined above. As I have already touched upon, some justification can be found in the fact that Roberts is really more interested in giving us a history as far as it has shaped today's world. Another thing to bear in mind is that it is merely a one volume book, and as such much of these limitations are quite unavoidable. This is the first thing that a reader must come to accept if he or she is going to enjoy this book (and readers who are looking for a more balanced and thorough account need to appreciate that they will ultimately have to read a great many related books). After all, there is much history to be understood from this book, even if it cannot hope to fit the whole history of the world so neatly into only one volume.

Second:

The other thing to accept or appreciate is more a matter of the book's register. For example, it may help if the reader already has some general historical knowledge; it is very much a book for people who are already fascinated by history. (There are much more entertaining reads for those who are relatively new to the subject. Try something by Giles Milton, or read something more specific - say, about WWII, or any other particular history that interests you.) In other words, I doubt this is a book to inspire in the uninitiated a new found love for historical literature, but if you already have this love then this book will do much to further your interest and consolidate your knowledge.

By way of another example, I am at the moment two-thirds of the way through reading 'The Penguin History of Europe', by J.M. Roberts - I have already read many similar histories (such as 'Europe: A History', by Norman Davies) - and I find Roberts' style to be very similar in both books. It is in no way nearly as balanced or compulsive as other reads (Davies' book is brilliant for this), but it is thorough, educational, and mostly enjoyable, and it keeps me turning the pages. However, it may say something to add that I have read perhaps seven or eight other books since starting on this one if only to keep it light, and so neither reads are easy.

Overall, 'The New Penguin History of the World' is a thoroughly good book. It is mostly interesting, always educational, and it pretty much accomplishes what it sets out to do. If you can accept the near-inevitable Western emphasis on this book, and if you are already something of a history buff, then I am sure that you will fully enjoy this read. I may have found it a challenge - sometimes getting through a chapter could be nearly overwhelming - but this reflects more on the depth of the work than on the style in which it is written. It is much to say for the book that despite the density of the thing it kept me happily turning the pages for weeks on end.

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roberts' great triumph, January 31, 2006

By 

David N. Reiss (Haymarket, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Penguin History of the World: Fourth Edition (Paperback)

This is the last edition of the book there will be. Roberts died soon after he finished this book. The original one volume "History of the World" was the best one volume world history book in existence. The update is well worth the price for it as well. I own several editions of the book.

I would compare the excellence in quality of the book to the 11 volume "Story of Civilization" series by Wil Durant. Of course, Durant's works are in many cases outdated today. Roberts updated his work in order to "fix" things where evidence has leaned one-way or-another over the last several years, as well as to bring it up-to-date with the fall of the Soviet Union and the new global supremacy of the United States.

Of course, Roberts only hits the highlights. But he doesn't ignore anything; even so-called minor issues are discussed. In many ways, he is outlining how the modern world came to be the way it is. All too much of what passes for history now a days is really little more than gossip about minor events in the relatively recent past. The grand sweep of historical events is often lost. Looking at well sells as history books today can make one cringe that somebody would read something, let alone write it.

Because people lack and true appreciation and understanding of history, they seem to be electing leaders who also lack the willingness to learn from past events. Democracy is on - at the very lest - a tenitive rise. Leaders need to know how Rome or Britain affected things in the modern political landscape. Churchill made decisions that are still being played out in the Middle East and Iraq today. Roman and even ancient Greek leaders had to deal with the issues of in the Balkans in southeast Europe over two-millennia ago. You can't fully understand the former Yugoslavia without understanding Roman province carving and its long term affects on world history.

How can leaders hope to make the best decisions if they don't understand the causes of the original problems? And since democratically elected leaders are, at least in the West, the norm now, people need to understand history in order to recognize people who understand it.

Roberts tries to restore the grand scope to the matter of human history. Something people and our political leaders seem to have very much lost sight of now. True History, the whys and wherefores need more attention.

62 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An updated version of ISBN: 0140154957, October 27, 2004

By 

C. Goss (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Penguin History of the World: Fourth Edition (Paperback)

Not having read his older version I have no idea how it compares or how much has been changed and/or added. My first attempt at a straight through read of a book on the subject, I am confident I made a good choice in picking up this particular book.

Some have said that this book suffers from an over-abundence of euro-centrism. I would disagree. If your conception of a fair portrayl of world history is the collection of "national" (for lack of a better word) histories each given an equal amount of attention (or even an amount of attention proportinate to their achievments within their borders), then this book will certainly not satisfy you. In this book, great civilazations (such as the chinese, japanese, and native americans) that were more isolationist in ideology get compartively little attention because they contributed compartively little to the lives of those living outside their oversight. Therefore, in selecting national histories to focus on, Roberts spends a large portion of the time discussing the history of europeans because they played a large role ("for better or for worse" he acknowledges) in the histories of other people. That europeans, for better or for worse, have succeded more then any other people in spreading their idealogies and influences is less a matter of opinion and more a matter of fact.

So if you are interested in a 1200-page, slightly sophisticated introduction to world history, with a particular focus on war and economics, I would heartily recommend this book.