''A Short History of the World'' is an account of

human history Human history, also called world history, is the narrative of humanity's past. It is understood and studied through anthropology, archaeology, genetics, and linguistics. Since the invention of writing, human history has been studied throug ...

by English author

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Cassell & Company (London) and

The Macmillan Company Macmillan Inc. is a defunct American book publishing company. Originally established as the American division of the British Macmillan Publishers, the two were later separated and acquired by other companies, with the remnants of the original A ...

(New York). The book was preceded by Wells's fuller 1919 work ''

The Outline of History ''The Outline of History'', subtitled either "The Whole Story of Man" or "Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind", is a work by H. G. Wells chronicling the history of the world from the origin of the Earth to the First World War. It appear ...

'', and was intended "to meet the needs of the busy general reader, too driven to study the maps and time charts of that ''Outline'' in detail, who wishes to refresh and repair his faded or fragmentary conceptions of the great adventure of mankind." The first edition had around 400 pages, with about 200 illustrations, including 21 maps. Later editions were published with updated accounts of world events. It was published in

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the West ...

in 2006. The book summarises the scientific knowledge of the time regarding the history of Earth and life. It starts with its

origins Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

, goes on to explain the development of the Earth and life on Earth, reaching primitive thought and the development of humankind from the

Cradle of Civilisation A cradle of civilization is a location and a culture where civilization was created by mankind independent of other civilizations in other locations. The formation of urban settlements (cities) is the primary characteristic of a society that c ...

. The book ends with the outcome of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the

Russian famine of 1921 Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and pe ...

, and the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

in 1922. In 1934

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

recommended the book for the study of history as a means of interpreting progress in civilisation.

Censorship

The Spanish-language translation of ''A Short History of the World'', discussing world events up to the late 1930s, was banned by the Francoist government in 1940. In two 1948 reports, Spanish censors gave a list of reasons for suppressing the book's publication. These were that the book "shows socialist inclinations, attacks the Catholic Church, gives a twisted interpretation of the Spanish Civil War and the Spanish National Movement, and contains 'tortuous concepts.'" As a result, ''A Short History'' was not published in Spain until 1963. Parrinder, Patrick, and Partington, John S. ''The reception of H.G. Wells in Europe''. London : Thoemmes continuum, 2005. (p.251)

References

External links

Full text on Bartleby

Full text on Project Gutenberg
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Short History of the World 1922 non-fiction books History books about civilization Books by H. G. Wells Cassell (publisher) books Censored books

Censorship

See also

References

External links