The Penguin History of the World: 6th edition by J M Roberts (PDF)

Description

This is a completely new and updated edition of J. M. Roberts and Odd Arne Westad’s widely acclaimed, landmark bestseller The Penguin History of the World.For generations of readers The Penguin History of the World has been one of the great cultural experiences – the entire story of human endeavour laid out in all its grandeur and folly, drama and pain in a single authoritative book. Now, for the first time, it has been completely overhauled for its 6th edition – not just bringing it up to date, but revising it throughout in the light of new research and discoveries, such as the revolution in our understanding of many civilizations in the Ancient World. The closing sections of the book reflect what now seems to be the inexorable rise of Asia and the increasingly troubled situation in the West.About the authors:J.M. Roberts, CBE, published The Penguin History of the World in 1976 to immediate acclaim. His other major books include The Paris Commune from the Right, The Triumph of the West (which was also a successful television series), The Penguin History of Europe and The Penguin History of the Twentieth Century. He died in 2003.Odd Arne Westad, FBA, is Professor of International History at the London School of Economics. He has published fifteen books on modern and contemporary international history, among them The Global Cold War, which won the Bancroft Prize, and Decisive Encounters, a standard history of the Chinese civil war. He also served as general co-editor of the Cambridge History of the Cold War.Reviews’A work of outstanding breadth of scholarship and penetrating judgements. There is nothing better of its kind’ Jonathan Sumption, Sunday Telegraph’A stupendous achievement’ A.J.P. Taylor’A brilliant book … the most outstanding history of the world yet written’ J.H. Plumb

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Naturally, if you wish to write a book that covers the whole of world history you are bound to be selective, but I believe the author’s selections are a little too arbitrary in certain periods. The coverage of the Assyrian, Elamite and Persian civilizations are almost non-existent. The coverage of Indian civilizations leaves much to be desired. These are only some examples, many important topics are either left out or insufficiently covered.Readability is also an issue. The language is not an easy one. It’s quite academic which is not in itself a bad thing as long as clarity is not sacrificed, however, the language is not really clear. Expect long, meandering paragraphs, a more unfamiliar and academic lexicon that you might be comfortable with and don’t expect to be dazzled by the beauty of the language. There are occasions where the authors paints a beautiful picture, but they are few and far between.The style of presentation is not narrative but more expository, so if you are more familiar with being presented history as if a story is being read to you, which I believe is more natural, be prepared to be disappointed. I myself don’t mind that objective, third person, detached point of view.Other things to remember, the book, like unfortunately many books of history, gives much more credit than it is objectively due, to religion or more accurately to “western” Abrahamic religions. There are quite a few places when this is obvious, but to give you only one example; quite early in the book you’ll see Judaism being kind of implicitly credited as the first monotheistic religion of the world:” The religious innovations of Akhnaton and the growing assertiveness of the cult of Marduk have both been seen as responses to such a challenge. Yet only the Hebrews and those who came to share their beliefs were able to push the process home, at some point before the seventh century BC transcending polytheism and localism to arrive at a coherent and uncompromising monotheism.”This is of course downright inaccurate. Zoroastrianism is the first monotheistic religion of the world, unless you take monotheism to be something very particular. However, despite the fact that the author mentions Zoroastrianism later on in the book, he decides to forgo any clarification and this information stick to the mind and if you are not aware of the history of Zoroastrianism then you might end up believing that Judaism was the first monotheistic religion. Regrettably, there are more instances like this. My advice to you, if you see anything related to religion, take it with a grain of slat, unless you are certain of its truth.Other than these, I’d say it’s a very good book. You’d hardly find anything better that covers so much of human history, with such level of accuracy and breadth, in only one volume.

⭐This is a great introduction to world history but it does have some vital issues. For one it is extremely long-winded and can be a bit biased at times. For instance, he does Ancient Egypt dirty and downplays almost all of their achievements besides medicine and to a point their religion. He does not even mention great achievements like the Temple of Karnak or Luxor(if I remember correctly) and says that they had no great contribution to architecture which is absolutely ridiculous as well as their contributions in other areas. He says many very unscholarly claims almost passive-aggressively without any elaboration whatsoever. Other than that I had not found many issues except for bad editing and other errors. Oh for a so-called scholarly work it has no footnotes, bibliography, or anything along those lines which is alarming. All in all, it is a great book but I would not just believe everything without proper research because there are a few errors but nothing too major other than what I already mentioned. I am sure most people will find this book absolutely excellent so I would recommend it.

⭐I finished this book after reading it off and on for approximately 3 years. I read it on Kindle. I see from other reviews that the print edition has very small type. I had imagined it being multiple volumes. This is a very long book, as one would imagine.I’m very glad I read it. I hadn’t been exposed to a history of this type before, and I find that it has enhanced my consumption of other history by giving me a framework to put things in. It also covered some regrettable gaps in my formal education.The book is quite dense. Other reviews complained about the author’s long, wordy sentences, which I noticed but usually didn’t mind. Sometimes the writing did seem roundabout for its own sake.A more significant defect, in my opinion, is the complete lack of any headings or numbers dividing the text other than by chapter. When the writer switches topics in a chapter, he usually segues over a paragraph or two, which makes it hard to realize it’s happening until you’re suddenly in Europe. On numerous occasions, I was trying to find a good place to stop in the middle of a 40-page long chapter covering over a century, and I struggled to get to a point that didn’t seem to be in the middle of some discussion. When the writer does switch topics, he will often return to a part of the world that hasn’t been mentioned in something like 100 pages, and I had to consult my notes to remind myself what had been happening there. These transitions could use short recaps.I have a lesser complaint about the maps. They are detailed and usually contain about as much information as you would want. At least in the Kindle edition, they often come several pages after the beginning of the events they illustrate, leaving geographically ignorant readers such as myself to tough it out. The maps are also an exercise in maximizing the amount of information that can be conveyed via subtly varying shades of gray and patterns of tiny dots. A historical atlas is a good companion to this book.

⭐When I bought this book I thought it would give me a brief rundown of some of the more significant events in human history, period. I didn’t expect that it would be so well-written and thoughtful. This book not only discusses important historical events and their contexts, as you would expect from any good history book, but also goes into what I would term the philosophy of history, seeing things from different viewpoints, discussing their possible meanings, admitting when there is insufficient evidence to determine something. I am finding it a very informative and interesting read. So much information and philosophy packed into such a small space. I highly recommend it to people who love to read history.

⭐This is an excellent book: at once rigorous and comprehensive, while remaining accessible to someone whose formal historical education stretches no further than GCSE. It is a long book, unsurprising given the scope of its subject, but remains readable, with a pleasant narrative fluidity, throughout; a reader that finds the length intimidating could well treat each section (“book”) of the work individually, interspersing them with lighter reading. The chronology of the book stretches from the palaeontology of the pre-human era, through the evolution of mankind and the development of society, to the great, complex classical civilisations and beyond, through the European dark ages (I use this as a chronological marker, not a geographical one) and the development of our own civilisation, passing through modern history, right up until present day events, such as the Arab spring. As such, it is truly a history of mankind – by the author’s own assessment, there can be no earlier history, since history requires human subjects. This grand arena is supplemented by a vast array of clearly presented maps, helping the reader to visualise and understand forgotten and distant places.The mother book is divided into eight sub-books, covering consecutive time periods; the first and closing (seventh and eighth) books have chapters broadly split along thematic lines, while the intervening books (two to six) have chapters broadly split along geographic lines, as befits the most logical mode of examination of each epoch. This structure means that every book, and most chapters, can be read independently if desired. Timewise, the vast majority of human history (from prehistory up to, and including, the classical era) occupies a bit under half the book, while, as the pace of human advancement, the available evidence and the relevance to the present day all increase, the remainder of history (the European dark ages onwards) occupies just over half the book. Post-war, the detail begins to thin off again, as it increasingly covers events that we do not yet have the perspective to properly assess.Geographically, the book is focussed on the Eurasian landmass, although other civilisations are mentioned in passing. Undoubtedly, this is for the simple reason that (with some notable north African exceptions, which are covered in the book) the history which is of greatest value for understanding the world today happened here; Mesoamerican civilisation failed to reach beyond a plateau before being extinguished by Europeans, North American and Australasian cultures were extinguished by Europeans before having reached the advanced, settled stage the author identifies as civilisation and (aforementioned exceptions excluded) Africa’s renaissance still lies in the future. That’s not to say that these civilisations and cultures were not socially advanced, interesting or valuable, but that they had the least impact outside of their own environs.Within Eurasia, the book does display a bias, in terms of depth of coverage, to Europe. But then, Roberts was a British academic writing for an English-speaking audience, Westad is a European academic, based in London, writing for an English speaking audience – a European focus will always be of greatest interest and intellectual-profitability in this scenario. Additionally, I think Roberts would argue that European history, and the worldview that has developed therefrom, have had a disproportionally large impact on the world today. None of this means that other societies are neglected; every (geographically-chaptered) book contains at least one chapter (often one each) on the history of China and India, and chapters on other civilisations as the developments of their history merit (e.g. Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Muslim world, Japan, the Eurasian nomads…).By the end of the book, the reader is left with a deeper understanding of why the Earth is as it is, and how we got here. Insight is given into the great themes of history: the interactions of civilisations; the development of cultures and societies and how these, in turn, shape their future path; the causes and consequences of important historical events and, most importantly, how this all relates to the individual man. How (s)he affects, and is affected by, these happenings. The reader cannot fail to be awed by the scope of human history and the forward progress of humanity, and humbled by how even the most serious of current events may be little more than a footnote to this great story. Yet it also instils feelings of vulnerability and helplessness – it tells as much of the decline of civilisations as their rise, an inexorable series of challenges facing humankind.A long review for a long book! In summary, this is a fluent and compelling narration of one of the greatest stories ever told; one that has the power to leave a pliant reader a little wiser than before.

⭐I really enjoyed a lot of this book which summarises the general ‘history’ of different epochs; however, it does tend to pick sources that the author clearly favours and ignore those that don’t correspond with his worldview. The use of the Old Testament of the Jewish Bible as an historical source seems quite ridiculous.

⭐The Penguin History of the World by J.M. Roberts & Odd Arne Westad is both well structured and easy to read. My favourite sections were the earlier periods, such as the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, which I thought were particularly well done. The book is clearly written and comprehensive in its coverage, though as it approaches more modern times a little less so. Needless to say, it is a book that I often return to, especially after watching a historical documentary on TV to reinforce what I’ve just been watching. All in all, this is a fabulous world history that doesn’t disappoint. Highly recommended.I hope you find my review helpful.

⭐It’s a real doorstop of a book, a good argument for buying a Kindle (other devices are available, but hey, this is Amazon after all)?Don’t look for too much depth, but in terms of a good starting point, this is pretty decent for it’s size and makes you want to read more on specific subject areas. I enjoyed History O-level at school way back, thanks to the late great Tom Moloney teaching me back in the day, and that interest has stayed with me through my STEM career – now that retirement allows me time to read more, this,is a book to enjoy.

⭐Excellent condition and on time delivery. Also, I’ve started reading it, it is quite a thick book, but the way it deals with history and its timeline, I must say it is a must read. I bought it because i needed a book that would help me put places and times together, but this does more than that! It feeds your curiosity, it answers questions and most importantly it will supply you with alternative possibilities to events already known (for example, the flood in the bible vs the flood in The Epic of Gilgamesh vs the real version of what actually went on [real to be interpreted loosely]). Absolutely brilliant!

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