The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child; Volume 1: Ancient Times (Paperback)

by Susan Wise Bauer (Author) "Where do you live?..." (more)
Key Phrases: citadel cities, Mediterranean Sea, Asia Minor, Augustus Caesar (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This may well be the best multiage read aloud narrative of world history yet to have been written. " -- Homeschooling in Japan, January 2002

This is a basic history resource from which you can build a complete study for the early grades. -- Cathy Duffy, author of Christian Home Educator's Manual: Elementary Grades and co-author of Beyond Survival: A Guide to Abundant-Life Homeschooling

This works wonderfully as a family read-aloud... There's plenty of dialogue and enough detail to keep adults interested. -- Cafi Cohen, author of Homeschooling The Teen Years

Product Description
What terrible secret was buried in Shi Huangdi's tomb? Did nomads like lizard stew? What happened to Anansi the Spider in the Village of the Plantains? And how did a six-year-old become the last emperor of Rome?

Told in a straightforward, engaging style that has become Susan Wise Bauer's trademark, The Story of the World covers the sweep of human history from ancient times until the present. Africa, China, Europe, the Americas- find out what happened all around the world in long-ago times. This first volume begins with the earliest nomads and ends with the last Roman emperor.

This read-aloud series is designed for parents to share with elementary-school children. Enjoy it together and introduce your child to the marvelous story of the world's civilizations.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (January 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971412901
• ISBN-13: 978-0971412903
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #155,508 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

309 of 329 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathing New Life into Ancient History, April 1, 2002

By	L. Joyce (FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a history major, I have always prided myself on the fact that I could find fascinating a subject that left many bored. However, when we began my daughter's first grade history lessons using the "Usbourne Book of World History" (using the lesson plan laid out in the excellent "Well Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise), even I found the material a bit dry; it is, after all, an encyclopedia. Apparently, Susan Wise Bauer felt similarly about its limitations, as she went out and wrote her own history tome. "The Story of the World" is so fantastic, it takes my breath away! The read aloud text on ancient times presents history in small chunks, and is written in an engaging, story-like manner that delights my children, who are 4 and 6 years old. This delightful manner in no way means that the subject matter is "watered down"; Bauer still introduces children to the facts and terminology that are relevant to the subject. For instance, the chapter on "The First Writing" explains the origins and meanings of "hierolglyphics", "Mesopatamia", "cuneiform", and "papyrus".
After listening in rapt pleasure to the text, children will delve into the accompanying curriculum guide and activity book. The guide provides thought provoking questions on the text, and offers an example of the type narration that the child should give (the child is expected to briefly narrate back to the parent what they just read about in the text). The guide book provides map work, coloring pages, puzzles, and review cards which can be copied from the book for use, and also includes wonderful craft ideas (most of which, as an inherently lazy person, I found very "do-able" without undue effort). This week, we carved a cuneiform monogram into clay, made a hieroglyphic scroll on paper, and left them outside to see which will prove to be more durable over time; this will illustrate to the children why the papyrus documents of Egypt did not survive the centuries, but the older cuneiform tablets of Sumer did. For our next project, we plan on mummifying a chicken from the grocery store using the directions from the guide.
I love this history program, and history is now my daughter's favorite subject. I can't wait for Ms. Bauer to write the next volume (this volume covers earliest nomads to the fall of the Roman Empire). The only downside is that the cirriculum guide comes as a thick packet of pages, rather than being bound into a book. However, the pages have pre-cut holes and are easily stored a binder, and this makes it very easy to copy pages from the guide. ... I feel that this course would be a bargain at twice the price.

871 of 947 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, but little distinction between legends and history, May 7, 2003

By	Robert Griffin (St Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews

We used this book for 1st grade history this year. As we approach the end of the school year, I find I have mixed feelings about the book. On the one hand, it definitely has kid appeal. It *is* a book of stories, and employs a conversational style. My daughter always enjoyed it. There is some non-Western history (India, China, and to a chapter each on ancient Africa and the Americas), which is important for a more well-rounded study of the period. And perhaps, the biggest factor in its favor, there aren't many books out there like it, yet. I was a classics major in college, and have studied this period, its languages, literature, history and culture in moderate detail. I have often found myself correcting the book or pointing out what is established fact and what is simply a story. This has resulted in a lot of interesting discussions, but I wouldn't feel comfortable with my daughter reading this book independently, as it would easily engender a fragmentary understanding at best or foster strange misconceptions at worst.

Despite my background, please don't think that I expect more from this book (or my student!) than is reasonable. This is after all, first grade, and the aim is simply to introduce the student to the period in a logical, engaging fashion. Unfortunately, the book only succeeds in the latter department.

The book would have done well to better define history as a study. While a certain amount of legendary material is necessary for the period under consideration, it's important for the student to know the difference between legends about real people and things we know for certain about those people. In addition, there is mythological material which is more appropriate in a literary or religious context. There are a few Bible stories, Siddhartha (Buddha), Jesus and several Greek myths are presented. While these stories and figures have bearing on history and are culturally significant, I think their handling is ultimately confusing to the student since they are not presented in a strict historical context. Jesus' resurrection is related in the same matter of fact tone as the rest of the book. Nowhere does the author state whether or not he really came back to life. His death is attributed to the fears of the Romans ("If the Jewish people had a king of their own, they wouldn't want to obey Augustus Caesar any more.") This nonsensical statement makes it sound like a competition between the two great figures, when in fact Augustus had already been dead for 19 years, and the then current emperor Tiberius couldn't have cared less about what happened in a troublesome backwater province, so long as the tax levies flowed back to Rome. The book often shifts between historical and legendary points of view without alerting the reader to the change. This is a serious defect in a book whose audience members are just starting to be able to effectively differentiate between fantasy and reality. I'm not saying these figures and beliefs should not be presented, but facts and legends must be teased apart by the parent for the student, lest misconceptions take root. If you are not well acquainted with history, you may fall prey to a few misconceptions yourself!

The book does not employ the chronological approach recommended in Bauer's other book, "The Well-Trained Mind." The text jumps back and forth across centuries, even millennia. The late Babylonian empire is followed by the Minoan civilization of Crete, a backward jump of 1500 years. This happens a lot. The chapters can be read out of sequence with some difficulty (what we did), but it would have been better if the information were presented in a more logical sequence.

The book omits important details and peoples. There is nothing about the Celts, except in passing in one section on the Gallic Wars and another on the British rebellion during the early Roman empire. Pretty short shrift for a people who ranged across most of Europe for a millenium or two and whose culture has had such a deep and lasting influence. In the chapter on Alexander, Aristotle's tutelage of Alexander is not mentioned, nor is the burning of Persepolis. A previous chapter devotes space to this royal Persian city, why not follow through and connect the dots?

Vaguely inaccurate statements such as these are staples of the text: "Alexander's army was the best in the world." Well, really, Alexander's army had a great general, a revolutionary strategist. The Persian army he defeated was arguably "greater," but they were defeated by Alexander's boldness and cunning. "Alexander was the greatest king of ancient times." Well, he only ruled for 12 years, he was on campaign that entire time, and so didn't do much in the way of administrating his new empire, writing law or other "kingly" work. He was arguably the greatest general of ancient times. I think a 7 year old can understand these distinctions. Thus it seems at times as if the text is unnecessarily simplified. Certainly the author could have subsituted "greatest general" for "greatest king" and described the army as the "smartest" or "fastest," either of which would have been more accurate and more revealing.

So while the book has been enjoyable, it's also been very aggravating, and I'm frankly surprised by the lack of careful editing/fact-checking, given the author's views on education.

70 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Although it's not perfect, it was a great intro for my kids, June 3, 2003

By	Amy, NY (New York) - See all my reviews

After reading the reviews that were not happy with SOTW, I'll admit that if you're wanting a very serious, detailed account of the ancient civilizations, SOTW won't suit you. HOWEVER, if you are/were a history dunce like me, this was EXACTLY what you needed to get you and your kids rolling on the history buff train.

Her book was designed to be an intro to history for young children, not an in-depth study. It was very easy to add detail and make distinctions as parents saw fit, which is the reasoning behind the "simplistic" and "vague" stories. She realizes that many parents prefer to put their own emphasis on various aspects of history and cultures, so she leaves the details up to the parents. A few minutes searching through her online discussion boards will bring up and clarify any questions you may have. Anyone who looks for a perfect history curriculum is fooling themselves: most history experts EXPECT to find errors somewhere in every history book [see reviews of other history books for examples of that fact or ask a local professor].

That being said, we thoroughly enjoyed reading and playing with SOTW. The novel was fun, engaging, and easy to read. When my son picks up the book to read again for fun, i know we have a winner. The activity guide is well worth the money: the maps are clear and easy to use, the coloring sheets are OK, the activities and games are interesting, the reading suggestions are suitable for the age levels, and the discussion questions are well-thought out.

If you are new to history, don't know what to teach, or are trying to teach several ages at one time, this is a perfect unit study-type of spine. We added science and art as we studied each culture. It is not laid out with daily lesson plans, but is easy to adapt for once-a-week use or daily use.