Actually, the world. E.H. Gombrich's A Little History of the World originally written in German in 1935. I picked up this book after a visit to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in DC. Gombrich is most famous for his History of Art masterpiece.
This was a quick read. Finished it in a little over 24 hours. Admittedly, I was hurrying to finish it before my Thanksgiving travels, so I would have one less book to bring. (Update: Just bought 15 books in North Carolina. I've got a lot of plunder to haul back.) It is quick mostly because it is aimed toward children, so I was able to fly through it. Although that is not to say it was poorly written. It was wonderful to soar through history and to see how everything fits in the proper context and timeline.
Gombrich takes the reader through the entire history of Western Civilization. He briefly discusses cavemen, the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Eastern religions, the Migrations after the fall of the Roman empire, Middle Ages, Age of Chivalry, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Reformation, Revolution, Industrialization, Imperialism, and ends with WW1. Each chapter is short and simple, but Gombrich does not talk down to the reader. He paints a beautiful picture of events and famous characters, using the art of storytelling. Even though it is for children and most of the information I already knew, there are plenty of other facts that I learned.
It is from a German perspective, however, and so it gives special attention to the history of that land. The East, China, Japan and India and the Middle East are briefly touched upon in certain chapters, and the Americas and Africa were barely mentioned, except in the terms of European colonialism. Also, from a German perspective, it ends with a negative characterization of the Allied powers and Woodrow Wilson after WW1, and says that they screwed over the Germans. Gombrich does have a final chapter that was added thirty years later, in which he apologizes for his impartiality, and explains the rise and terror of Hitler, which he did not expect to happen when he wrote the book originally. Gombrich escaped the Nazis, and was able to move to England before war broke out.
Will definitely show this book to my kids someday. Three and a half out of five stars.
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