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Has there ever been a history of the world as readable as this?
In The Human Story, James C. Davis takes us on a journey to ancient times, telling how peoples of the world settled down and founded cities, conquered neighbors, and established religions, and continues over the course of history, when they fought two nearly global wars and journeyed into space.
Davis's account is swift and clear, never dull or dry. He lightens it with pungent anecdotes and witty quotes. Although this compact volume may not be hard to pick up, it's definitely hard to put down.
For example, on the death of Alexander the Great, who in a decade had never lost a single battle, and who had staked out an empire that spanned the entire Near East and Egypt, Davis writes: "When they heard how ill he was, the king's devoted troops insisted on seeing him. He couldn't speak, but as his soldiers -- every one -- filed by in silence, Alexander's eyes uttered his farewells. He died in June 323 B.C., at the ripe old age of thirty-two."
In similar fashion Davis recounts Russia's triumph in the space race as it happened on an autumn night in 1957: "A bugle sounded, flames erupted, and with a roar like rolling thunder, Russia's rocket lifted off. It bore aloft the earth's first artificial satellite, a shiny sphere the size of a basketball. Its name was Sputnik, meaning 'companion' or 'fellow traveler' (through space). The watchers shouted, 'Off. She's off. Our baby's off!' Some danced; others kissed and waved their arms."
Though we live in an age of many doubts, James C. Davis thinks we humans are advancing. As The Human Story ends, he concludes, "The world's still cruel; that's understood, / But once was worse. So far so good."
- Sales Rank: #1234967 in Books
- Published on: 2004-06-29
- Released on: 2004-06-29
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x 1.45" w x 6.00" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 480 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Davis, who taught history at the University of Pennsylvania, has taken on an unusual project—to relate all of human history in the simplest terms possible for the broadest audience possible. The chapter titles illustrate his method of abstracting large themes from a multitude of events—"The richer countries grab the poorer," for example, isn't a bad summary of 19th-century imperialism, but it does risk seeming remedial. At his best, Davis does for human history what Stephen Hawking did for the atom and the universe—take a step back from the details and translate them into common terms. But human history lacks the elegance of subatomic particles, so the book constantly flirts with a kind of riotous overgeneralization, treating immensely complex entities like "England" or "workers" as much as possible like single individuals in psychological terms. The method works better for events that are known widely but not in detail—an example is Stalin's purges—for which Davis can bring the reader a smattering of pungent details and move on. For more familiar subjects, the reader may feel the author is being glib. Davis elevates thinkers above leaders, devoting far more space to Newton and Darwin than to Napoleon and Caesar. It is refreshing to have a treatment of human life at once learned and optimistic, and one that so forcefully focuses on the primacy of ideas in our triumphant story. 9 maps, 4 line illus.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Metahistories of humanity are in vogue. Davis' offering marks at least the third gallop from the ice age to the atomic age to be published recently. Like Geoffrey Blainey (A Short History of the World, 2002) and Michael Cook (A Brief History of the Human Race [BKL S 15 03]), Davis is an academic historian reaching for a mass readership. And, like them, he adopts a plan to appeal to it by illustrating a general point with a human-interest example and using direct and simple sentences. However, there's nothing simplistic about his prose style. Every average reader of Davis' survey will likely have detailed familiarity with some subject and will sense that the author's grasp of it (whether of the history of health, religions, or empires) reveals him to be a reliable pathfinder to the central facts and narrative of unfamiliar terrain as well. Regarding history as a progressive process overall, Davis' reconnoitering of humanity's record of depravity and enlightenment is a wise choice as an introduction to world history. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
“A brisk and cheerfully traditional trip through our history, from homo erectus to George W. Bush” (Kirkus Reviews)
Most helpful customer reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
Thoroughly enjoyable
By Amazon Customer
The cover of The Human Story asks, Has there even been a history of the world as readable as this? I cannot answer that. But I can state that reading The Human story was absolutely, completely enjoyable. I was captivated at page one, and did not experience a let down until I reached page 440, the last page of the text.
One might reasonably ask, How can anyone cover world history in 440 pages and do any of it justice? Well, of the sections of history that I was familiar with, I will admit that I got the feeling: My, we certainly covered that quickly. And yet, that is not the impression one has as one reads the book. James C. Davis's brilliance shows in how he skillfully selected and wove together the important details into a fascinating narrative of human history, from pre-historic times to the present. The end result does read like a very entertaining story.
I came away with a much clearer view of the big picture of how humanity has filled the earth. A lot is left out, of course. But what is striking is how much is put in. One reads about China, India, Africa, the great explorers of the world, the great conquerors and adventurers, the world wars, and much more.
If you are looking for a book that gives you a good, refreshing swim in the ocean of the human story, you will not be disappointed by this work.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
A delightful overview that makes you want to explore further.
By Michael B. Marcus
Before writing this review, I read through what others had already said about the book. It's odd to me that such an innocuous book would have such polarized reviews; readers either seemed to love it or hate it. As you can guess by my rating, I fall into the former category. This book is extremely readable. It's not meant for high school students, and would be a lousy first exposure to world history. The Human Story is geared for adults looking to revisit human history from a very broad perspective. As such, it breezes through time, sometimes glossing over entire centuries, sometimes examining a specific event in greater detail. The more critical reviews seem to equate time spent on an event with the author's perceived historical importance of that event. I don't really believe that was the intent at all. What The Human Story does do well is give readers a sense of what was occurring in different parts of the world at the same time. Far too many history books compartmentalize the developments of individual civilizations, as if while one was ascending, nothing was happening anywhere else. Another thing I liked was that, in addition to touching on some of the more famous key points in history, James C. Davis also spends some time on lesser-known events to those of us that slept through our history classes in high school.
One of the complaints that I noticed about this book was that it was at times too remedial in tone. I think, perhaps, that if you are a serious historian, that may well be true. However, if that's the case, why would you be reading this book? It's meant to be a light read, giving the casual reader a general sense of things without barraging him with endless names and dates. For everything mentioned in the 400 some odd pages, there are many moments in history that are skipped over entirely. Far from being a bad thing, though, The Human Story gives you just enough to whet your appetite.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Great overview for associating major timelines
By K. Finnefrock
I really enjoyed this book for one major reason - it really helped me put major historical events in context with the global timeline.
Like many people, I have learned history generally in isolated segments. For instance, I learned the European history & Asian history independently.
By going through the years quickly but with subject-related chapters, this book helped me put a lot of it together in my head in a useful way.
This is not the book you would buy if you only want buy one history book. This is a book you buy to bring a lot of bits of knowledge together.
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