Customer Reviews

The Usborne Book of World History (Picture World)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I purchased this book on the recommendation of Jesse Wise and Susan Wise Bauer, authors of "The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home." I am using it as the basic history text for my 1st and 2nd grader covering the beginnings of civilization all the way to the beginning of the 1900's.

The book is well organized into 1-2 page spreads that cover a brief time period or subject relating to a time period, which makes nice divisions for daily or weekly history lessons. For larger subject areas such as the Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations, there are several 2-page spreads covering more detailed areas of life and culture. The book begins with a 2-page spread called "Digging up History" then continues with early settlers, earliest cities, then major civilizations and empires. The page layouts are "Usbourne style," meaning there are many illustrations per page with captions about a paragraph long accompanying them. The illustrations are well done in that they give a good idea of what life was probably like during each time of history.

Each spread usually has a caption entitled "How We Know," which tells specific archeological evidences for the specific cultures. There are also small time charts on several spreads giving key dates for that specific culture. There are two large time charts in the book, the first covers First Civilizations to the Fall of Rome, the second continues on from there to 1914. Each chart covers 9 major geographical areas and gives a basic overview of what was happening in each.

This book is an excellent general overview. It is a good starting point, but for a more in-depth study needs to be supplemented with additional books that go into more detail.

I use this book to homeschool my daughter, and I've found it to be a good introduction to history for young children. It's not the only resource you will need, but it provides a good framework.

It does jump around a bit, because of the commitment to chronological presentation of *world* history. It's difficult to get the right mix on this, because one wants to see the continuous development of a particular region, but one also wants to see events in the greater context of World history. If the mix given in the book doesn't suit, though, it's possible to simply skip over parts and come back to them later. We use the book to provide a frame of reference, and a jumping off place for further study. In that respect, I think this book is better organized than The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. The latter has far more text, but, in my opinion, it's too dense for young children.

Some reviewers have mentioned the nudity in the pictures. I'm not sure what to make of that. Presumably they don't allow their children to view works of art that contain nudity either, since the Usborne nudity is far less graphic than a classical or renaissance statue. I don't know what harm a child could suffer from viewing Michelangelo's David, or Botticelli's Birth of Venus, though. The pictures in the Usborne book are harmless.

Other reviewers have claimed that there are inaccuracies in the Usborne book, particularly in how the catholic church is portrayed. I've looked at the examples that they've provided, and don't find them convincing. For example, one mentions the conflict between Pope Gregory VII and the Emperor, Henry IV. The claim that the pope made Henry stand in the snow for three days is one that I've seen in adult history texts. To call it "voluntary" penance is stretching things a bit, since Henry had been excommunicated, was in danger of losing his crown, and later reverted to his original opinion.

It's also claimed that the text doesn't present both sides of the Protestant/Catholic wars equally. Yet, on p.135 it says, "priests on both sides were tortured and even hanged. Both Protestants and Catholics believed they were saving their opponents from hell by doing this."

Another objection concerned the book's statement that "people decided [Joan of Arc] was a saint." There's nothing false about that statement. Of course, a saint must be cannonized by the church, but the pope doesn't make someone a saint out of the blue. Her sainthood was acclaimed by the people first, and then confirmed by the pope. It seems trivial to take issue with this.

I could go on about the other alleged inaccuracies, but I will just urge people to take these claims with a grain of salt. Read through all of the reviews of this book, and make your own decision.

The book is sketchy on detail, but that's to be expected. It's aimed at elementary school age children, it is heavily illustrated and it is wide-ranging. It skims the surface of history, and the parent/teacher is expected to provide greater detail through other sources. The book contains a list of additional resources on the inside of the back cover. If you use the book in that manner, it's a valuable resource. There are few texts that fill the niche of teaching history to children in the 6-10 age group, and none that I know of do it as well as Usborne.

This is a comprehensive coverage of topics in world history in a chronological fashion. By no means is it a thorough textbook. Then again, this book is targeted to elementary age children. Some concern may be elicited by understandably protective parents over the factual graphic representation of violence or nudity in art or historical depiction of facts (i.e. heads cut off laying in a pile from Assyrian victors, or Grecians with visible pubic hair at the Olympics), but if handled appropriately most children can probably deal well with this, especially if they aren't overly exposed to television or electronic games. My children have commented on the pictures, but a simple explanation usually suffices and we move on.

I use this with my first, second and third graders for our homeschool. We chose this from the recommendation of "The Well Trained Mind" by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. It is a very affordable option for a full four years of history (if you follow the three four-year cycles of history for classical education as suggested by The Well Trained Mind). Reading a two-page section one day allows for other books or items to be explored for the other two days of study that week.

Practical and affordable, this is a welcomed and captivating alternative to today's textbook approach to history.

I received this book and other books in the usborne history series as a young child. I was enthralled and entertained by them for years. As I progressed through high school, I was always far ahead of my other classmates in my knowledge of history, something which I attribute to the love of reading and learning that was instilled in me early by this and other Usborne books. Now that I have graduated from university I would reccomend this book to anyone, and will certainly purchase one for my own family.

This is what is in the curriculum for homeschooling with the Well Trained Mind. This is to be used for grades 1-4; although fourth grade needs Usborne's Twentieth Century as well.
This book is laid out chronologically and gives you information on all parts of the world at that time. Therefore, your kids will get information in nice, logical packets (which you then transfer to a time line). Once you've read in the history book the pages to cover for your two weeks, you then head to the library to check out books on subjects appropriate to your time frame.
This is a good book by a good company.

If you're not homeschooling and you want a book that might help your kid (younger) in history, try this one.

If you're a grownup and you're interested in filling in the gaps you missed in school, consider reading this book. Forget who the Sumerians were? Can't remember what happened when in the British Isles? This book is an wasy way to recover all that lost information.

If you want your child to have a solid, and decent grasp of World History, this book is for you. It does not misrepresent any religious group, as some others have suggested. It, in fact, provides information that is accepted in historical circles. I have spoken to secular homeschoolers who have found it too Christian because it discusses Judeo-Christian history in detail, and I have spoken to folks who believe it compromises too many of their relgious beliefs.

I bought the book because I want my children to have a fundamental understanding of the timeline of history, the stories in history, great rulers, aand the ability to "see" the path of history. I also want my children to be well-educated in the sense that they'll have as much of the "story" as possible. From that I hope they will be able to draw their own conclusions about the "victors write the history" theory of history.

If you want your child to be taught 1. what is historically accurate (within reason for a younger child- there are some things in the book that could be argued initially because there is little explanation- I'd hope that develops later in their education) and also 2. what is considered historically accurate (an important thing when it comes time to go to college) then you will have struck gold with the Usborne World History book.

I love to pictures, the small, and the easy to digest pieces of information. It may look like a comic book. It may look too fun to be worthy of consideration. But, honestly, it's a thorough, content-heavy and accurate book that kids can really enjoy (parents too!)

I absolutely love Usborne books! I homeschool my K and 2nd graders with several Usborne books and even my husband can't put them down. HOWEVER, I have found this book to be inaccurate in reference to Christian and Jewish history. This has not proven to be a problem because I simply use the inaccuracies to teach my children about truth and inaccuracies.

Someone gave me this book when it first came out and I was about seven. I must have read it hundreds of times--it was totally captivating. I went on to study History at an Ivy League school. Coincidence? Well, probably. But I think any curious child would love this book. I remember it vividly and am about to buy a copy for a young cousin. I'll be sure to read it again myself, too.

Note: I am editing my review five years later in response to the reviews of home-school parents that have appeared since. I have no idea why anyone would consider this an appropriate history *textbook.* It is a very broad overview--a good free-reading book for a young child. The content isn't objectionable if you don't have a particular agenda. I guess there are some nude people, but the illustrations are tiny and it's definitely tamer than National Geographic!

I usually love Usborne books and our family owns many of them. But The Usborne Book of World History has left me disappointed.

The title page reads, "This book is an introduction to world history from the first civilisations to the early 20th century... This book does not attempt to be a comprehensive account... A vast amount of detail has been omitted..."

This is true. What remains is a very sparse overview of world history, presented in tiny two-or-three sentence snippets, interspersed among a plethora of colorful and often confusing images covering each and every page.

To me, as a homeschool teacher, this is disconcerting. This type of presentation would seem to stifle the student's need to develop concentration and focus as they study history. Any child able to read this book (which is written at (at least) a 3rd-grade level) should NOT be learning history in "tidbits" like this. He or she should be making connections-- between the invention of the printing press and the spread of Protestantism or the sudden surge in exploration of far-away lands, for example. This book simply doesn't provide those connections.

For that reason, I call it a "Sesame-Street approach". Too many small, attention-grabbing images and too little "meat". It seems more like entertainment than education to me. I would have preferred that the authors spend less time on the graphic images and more time developing a coherent continuum of history that a young child could follow.

Loved the book! I don't advocate covering up the truth when teaching my children so I greatly appreciated the refreshing honesty of this book. Too many children's "history" books tend to sugar-coat facts to the point of being myth! As a lifetime history buff & genealogist, I considered this a fantastic text for teaching elementary history to my children!