The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. A fascinating and useful book for a great number of people. -- Review

Review

"A unique, encyclopedic book -- rewarding, informative, entertaining."

-- The Wall Street Journal

"A fascinating and useful book for a great number of people."

-- Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

"The Timetables of ™History can give us a feel for the fluidity and many-sidedness of past experience...[and] can help us see what we thought we already knew in a lively new perspective."

-- Daniel J. Boorstein, from his Foreword

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; 3 Revised edition (December 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067174271X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671742713
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #205,330 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The way we should all have been taught History., June 22, 2000

By	Irene Suver (Seattle, Washington USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If this book has a vice, it is simply you might forget what you came to find, as your eye catches some fascinating confluence of events hitherto missing from your understanding of the past. I have frequently beeen distracted for long periods wandering the endlessy intriguing pages of this indispensable reference.

Have a child who is bored by history, and asking why does it matter? Are you puzzled by a historical event that is often quoted as important but seems irrelevant to you? Are you a writer? Editor? Teacher? A reader who loves to understand the setting and times of a novel or novelist or other writer? This book is for all of you. Like any comprehensive work, there are omissions; gaps and small shortcomings. But if you only have three reference books, they should be a dictionary, a thesaurus and The Timetables of History.

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid historical timeline, November 3, 2003

By	Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Although it takes a few minutes to orient oneself with the structure of this timeline reference book, the huge amount of information it contains is readily accessible. Beginning in the 5000 BC and going to contemporary times, the timeline contains a year by year (or age by age, for the earliest entries) list of major occurrences in history/politics, literature/theater, visual arts, music, science and technology, and "daily life." Obviously, not all years contain entries across the board, and several years have packed grids. As the years get closer to the present, huge lists of events can take an entire page for a single year. Although heavily biased toward European and North American culture, the entries are not exclusively western. While helpful in determining the events in a specific time frame, this volume is strictly a timeline without reference to specific trends and without analysis.

I highly recommend this book to anyone putting together a collection of easy-to-access reference books.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great reference but needs updated - again, April 21, 2002

By	Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Timetables of History is an encyclopedic style text that organizes information on a year by year basis. Each item is organized into one of seven categories: 1) History and Politics, 2) Literature and Theatre, 3) Religion, Philosophy and Learning, 4) Visual Arts, 5) Music, 6) Science, Technology and Growth and 7) Daily Life. Starting from 5000 BC and continuing to 1991, each area is shown in a parallel fashion so that you know which items were occurring at the same time in history. For example, in the year 1838 in politics, Osceola, the Indian leader died and Queen Victoria was coronated, in Literature Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby were top sellers, in Visual Arts the London National Gallery was opened, in Science John Muir was born and in Daily Life the first traveling post office was opened.

If you have ever tried to fix an event in history in terms of what else was happening at the same time then this book is extremely useful. If you are into genealogy then it can help understand what was going on in the lives of your ancestors. If you are into science you can follow which scientists were contemporaries and what items were influencing them.

If you have any interest in history and want to get an overall picture of what was happening around the world at a particular time then this book can be a useful addition to your studies. A recommended resource for those who are interested in such things I value it for it's ability to let me know what was going on during the time of my ancestors for my genealogy hobby.