Bettie's Books

bookshelves: published-1999, nonfiction, fraudio, winter-20112012, history, dip-in-now-and-again

 

After the speculative future of 'The Year of the Flood', I have opted for a version of the past.

Read by ATT voice, which may come to grate. The only comprehensive 'bottom up' history of the world from the earliest human society to the twenty-first century. As mzd says: I think it would be unwise to ignore this book purely on the basis of not sharing its Marxist leanings

blurb - Chris Harman describes the shape and course of human history as a narrative of ordinary people forming and re-forming complex societies in pursuit of common human goals. Interacting with the forces of technological change as well as the impact of powerful individuals and revolutionary ideas, these societies have engendered events familiar to every schoolchild—from the empires of antiquity to the world wars of the twentieth century.

In a bravura conclusion, Chris Harman exposes the reductive complacency of contemporary capitalism, and asks, in a world riven as never before by suffering and inequality, why we imagine that it can—or should—survive much longer. Ambitious, provocative and invigorating, A People's History of the World delivers a vital corrective to traditional history, as well as a powerful sense of the deep currents of humanity which surge beneath the froth of government.

Reviews - 'I have had many people ask me if there is a book which does for world history what my book A People's History of the United States does for this country. I always responded that I know of only one book that accomplishes this extremely difficult task, and that is Chris Harman's A People's History of the World. It is an indispensable volume on my reference bookshelf.' (Howard Zinn )

'The left ... has few accounts which convey as well as this book does the broad sweep of human history.' (Robin Blackburn )