title: A Little History of the World (Little Histories)
author:  E. H. Gombrich 
description: <i>Starred Review.</i> This is an unusual work for Yale: a children's history originally published 70 years ago. But it is a work one can quickly come to love. Gombrich, later known as an art historian, wrote this primer in 1935, when he was a young man in Vienna (it was soon banned by the Nazis as too "pacifist"). Rewritten (and updated) in English mainly by Gombrich himself (who died in 2001, age 92, while working on it), the book is still aimed at children, as the language makes clear: "Then, slowly the clouds parted to reveal the starry night of the Middle Ages." But while he addresses his readers directly at times, Gombrich never talks down to them. Using vivid imagery, storytelling and sly humor, he brings history to life in a way that adults as well as children can appreciate.The book displays a breadth of knowledge, as Gombrich begins with prehistoric man and ends with the close of WWII. In the final, newly added chapter, Gombrich's tone sadly darkens as he relates the rise of Hitler and his own escape from the Holocaustchildren, he writes, "must learn from history how easy it is for human beings to be transformed into inhuman beings"and ends on a note of cautious optimism about humanity's future. <i>(Oct. 13)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE WORLD
  
  
  More praise for _A Little History of the World_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  'I am going to buy ten copies of this book and give it to my ten favourite
  children… This is a book which teaches what it is to be civilized by its very
  tone, which is one of gentleness, curiosity and erudition.'
  
  
  --A. N. Wilson, _Times Literary Supplement_
  
  
  
  
  
  '[Gombrich] excels in creating a sense of the continuities of history - the
  ways in which human nature has not budged over the millennia, and the
  smallness of the differences between people. A delight.'
  
  
  --Robert Hanks, _Daily Telegraph_
  
  
  
  
  
  'Gombrich opens with the most magical definition of history I have ever read .
  . . . Tolerance, reason and humanity . . . suffuse every page.'
  
  
  --Amanda Vickery, _The Guardian_
  
  
  
  
  
  'retains an irresistible, boyish energy and enthusiasm . . . Here, in this
  little book are answers to many of the questions you never dared to ask.'
  
  
  --Margaret Drabble, _New Statesman_
  
  
  
  
  
  'An e