This is an unusual work for Yale: a children's history originally published 70 years ago. But it is a work one can quickly come to love. Gombrich, later known as an art historian, wrote this primer in 1935, when he was a young man in Vienna (it was soon banned by the Nazis as too "pacifist"). Rewritten (and updated) in English mainly by Gombrich himself (who died in 2001, age 92, while working on it), the book is still aimed at children, as the language makes clear: "Then, slowly the clouds parted to reveal the starry night of the Middle Ages." But while he addresses his readers directly at times, Gombrich never talks down to them. Using vivid imagery, storytelling and sly humor, he brings history to life in a way that adults as well as children can appreciate. The book displays a breadth of knowledge, as Gombrich begins with prehistoric man and ends with the close of WWII. In the final, newly added chapter, Gombrich's tone sadly darkens as he relates the rise of Hitler and his own escape from the Holocaust-children, he writes, "must learn from history how easy it is for human beings to be transformed into inhuman beings"-and ends on a note of cautious optimism about humanity's future. (Oct. 13) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
A Little History of the World
Narrated by Ralph Cosham
E. H. GombrichUnabridged — 9 hours, 11 minutes
A Little History of the World
Narrated by Ralph Cosham
E. H. GombrichUnabridged — 9 hours, 11 minutes
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Overview
In 1935, with a doctorate in art history and no prospect of a job, twenty-six-year-old Ernst Gombrich was invited to attempt a history of the world for younger readers. Amazingly, he completed the task in an intense six weeks, and Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser was published in Vienna to immediate success. It is now an international bestseller and available in almost thirty languages across the world.
In forty concise chapters, Gombrich tells the story of man from the Stone Age to the atomic bomb. In between emerges a colorful picture of wars and conquests, grand works of art, and the spread and limitations of science. This is a text dominated not by dates and facts but by the sweep of mankind's experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity's achievements and an acute witness to its frailties. The product of a generous and humane sensibility, this timeless account makes intelligible the full span of human history.
Editorial Reviews
A lovely, lively historical survey that takes in Neanderthals, Hohenzollerns and just about everything in between. In 1935, Viennese publisher Walter Neurath approached Gombrich, who would go on to write the canonical, bestselling Story of Art, to translate a history textbook for young readers. Gombrich volunteered that he could do better than the authors, and Neurath accepted the challenge, provided that a completed manuscript was on his desk in six weeks. This book, available in English for the first time, is the happy result. Gombrich is an engaging narrator whose explanations are charming if sometimes vague. (Take the kid-friendly definition of truffles: "Truffles," he says, "are a very rare and special sort of mushroom." End of lesson.) Among the subjects covered are Julius Caesar (who, Gombrich exults, was able to dictate two letters simultaneously without getting confused), Charlemagne, the American Civil War, Karl Marx, the Paris Commune and Kaiser Wilhelm. As he does, he offers mostly gentle but pointed moralizing about the past, observing, for instance, that the Spanish conquest of Mexico required courage and cunning but was "so appalling, and so shaming to us Europeans that I would rather not say anything more about it," and urging his young readers to consider that perhaps not all factory owners were as vile as Marx portrayed them to be, even though the good owners "against their conscience and their natural instincts, often found themselves treating their workers in the same way"-which is to say, badly. Conversational, sometimes playful-not the sort of book that would survive vetting by school-system censors these days, but a fine conception and summarizing of the world'scheckered past for young and old.
In simple, vivid prose, Gombrich surveys the human past from pre-history to his own time. . . . Lucky children will have this book read to them. Intelligent adults will read it for themselves and regain contact with the spirit of European humanism at its best.”—Anthony Grafton, Wall Street Journal“This ‘little history’ has aged amazingly well.”—New York Times Book Review“A marvellous antidote to history without chronology: the whole experience of human history, from prehistory to the Second World War, compressed into a flowing narrative. . . . [Gombrich] excels in creating a sense of the continuities of history—the ways in which human nature has not budged over the millennium, and the smallness of the differences between people. A delight.”—Daily Telegraph“Gombrich opens with the most magical definition of history I have ever read. . . . Tolerance, reason and humanity . . . suffuse every page of the Little History.”—Amanda Vickery, Guardian Review“Gombrich knows precisely how to converse with his audience, intelligent children between nine and thirteen. He uses powerful imagery to convey the sheer length of time that separates us from the dinosaurs.”—Andrew Roberts, FT Magazine“The book is intellectually valuable, and unusual; rather than breaking history into eras or artificial categories . . . Gombrich contextualizes them all and gives the vast unfolding of the Western world one wise, simple narrative. . . . For adults, it is full of delightful reminders as well as forgotten or never-known tidbits. As for younger readers . . . [the book] is a treasure for them.”—Katie Haegele, Philadelphia Inquirer“I am going to buy ten copies of this book and give it to my ten favourite children. . . . This is a book which teaches what it is to be civilised by its very tone, which is one of gentleness, curiosity and erudition.”—A. N. Wilson, Times Literary Supplement“What was the bestselling title this Christmas at Foyles in London? Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker Prize–winning Wolf Hall? Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? Cormac McCarthy’s The Road? Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol? No. It was E. H. Gombrich’s A Little History of the World.”—Mark Sanderson, Sunday Telegraph“A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich is a bedtime treat to share with my two children and proof that brilliance and perspicacity needn’t be stuffy.”—Bettany Hughes, The Times“A remarkable book, written in an amiable, conversational style, effortlessly explaining, without condescension, difficult matters like the achievements of Charlemagne, the monetary system of medieval Europe and the ideas of the Enlightenment. . . . This resurrected history deserves reading for all its delights.”—Edward Rothstein, New York Times“So sharp was Gombrich’s intelligence and so lively his pen that it can be appreciated as much as literature as history. . . . There is not one of the 39 short chapters that is not enlivened by a sharp insight or arresting image.”—Tim Blanning, Sunday Telegraph“A enduring joy. . . . We have no shortage of historians eager to tell us what was important in the past and why; but few of them dare speak straight to the imagination of young people, to open their minds and to enrich their vision in the manner that Gombrich achieves so effortlessly here.”—Peter Furtado, Times Higher Education Supplement“A sophisticated narrative by the art historian which runs up to the First World War, written in language any child can understand.”—Lorna Bradbury, Daily Telegraph“This is an unusual work for Yale: a children’s history originally published 70 years ago. But it is a work one can quickly come to love. . . . Using vivid imagery, storytelling and sly humor, [Gombrich] brings history to life in a way that adults as well as children can appreciate. The book displays a breadth of knowledge.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)“The true fairy tale of the evolution of mankind.”—Die Zeit“A panoramic overview of history from the Stone Age to the 1990s that . . . manages to be entertaining and informative. . . . Gombrich, in other words, is a born teacher whose humanistic values are implicit in every word he wrote. . . . It has taken almost 70 years to reach English-speaking readers. It has been worth the wait: expertly translated, elegantly produced and charmingly illustrated by Clifford Harper, it will enchant any child.”—Joel Greenberg, The Australian“A lovely book, gracefully written, provocative in the best sense . . . thoughtful, engaging, a reminder of how stimulating history can be.”—Andre Alexis, Toronto Globe and Mail“This is the first English translation of a book written in 1935 in German and translated into 18 languages. Thirty years later, a second German edition was published with a new final chapter. In 40 brief chapters, Gombrich relates the history of humankind from the Stone Age through World War II. In between are historic accounts of such topics as cave people and their inventions (including speech), ancient life along the Nile and in Mesopotamia and Greece, the growth of religion, the Dark Ages, the age of chivalry, the New World, and the Thirty Years’ War. Much of this history is told through concise sketches of such figures as Confucius, Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Jesus Christ, Charlemagne, Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon, and Columbus. Gombrich was asked to write a history geared to younger readers, so the book is filled with innumerable dates and facts, yet it is one to be read by adults. With 41 black-and-white woodcut illustrations and nine maps, it is a timeless and engaging narrative of the human race.”—Booklist“It is history to read aloud, on a cold evening, preferably by a fire.”—Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times“A masterpiece of nonfiction writing for children. It is a wry and charming book, perfectly suited to the capacities of a 10-year-old, but also remarkably free of condescension. An adult can read it with pleasure. And, indeed, with instruction.”—Newsday“A lovely, lively historical survey that takes in Neanderthals, Hohenzollerns and just about everything in between. . . . Conversational, sometimes playful. . . . A fine conception and summarizing of the world’s checkered past for young and old.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“[A] lively and involving history. . . . Superbly designed and freshly illustrated, this is a book to be savored and collected. . . . This is a text dominated not by dates and facts, but by the sweep of mankind’s experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity’s achievements and an acute witness to its frailties. The product of a generous and humane sensibility, this timeless account makes intelligible the full span of human history.”—Artdaily“Though written for young people, E. H. Gombrich . . . writes with verve and infectious good humor. Yale packages Gombrich’s words attractively with woodcutlike illustrations by Clifford Harper.”—Fritz Lanham, Houston Chronicle“A timeless and engaging narrative of the human race.”—Choice“Charmingly illustrated with woodcuts and beautifully produced.”—BooksellerFeatured by the 2006 Association of American University Presses (AAUP) in University Press Books for Public and Secondary School LibrariesA 2006 Book Sense HighlightE. H. Gombrich was awarded the 1985 International Balzan Foundation PrizeNamed a Favorite Book of 2005 by the Los Angeles TimesSelected by the Association of American University Presses as an Outstanding Book for Public and Secondary School Libraries, 2005“Imagine the full story of human habitation on our planet being told in such flowing prose that you want to read it out loud. If you can’t imagine that, read A Little History of the World and experience it!"—Patricia S. Schroeder, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers and former U.S. Representative from Colorado“A brilliant piece of narrative, splendidly organised, told with an energy and confidence that are enormously attractive, and suffused with all the humanity and generosity of spirit that Gombrich’s thousands of admirers came to cherish during his long and richly productive life. It’s a wonderful surprise: irresistible, in fact.”—Philip Pullman
“If love of learning is a guide of your life, here is a readable and interesting story of humankind’s past that will enlighten and sometimes surprise you and hold your interest to the end.”—Melvyn Schreiber, M.D., Galveston Daily News
"Magical, transporting. . . . A children's history that adults will want to sneak off with and read on the sly."
—VeryShortList.com
"A beautifully concise volume [that] will remind readers of any age that the past 5,000 years have been one big slugfest between darkness and enlightenment, unreason and reason."—Mary Ann Gwinn, Seattle Times
"Gombrich accomplishes what many university-level Western Civilization classes cannot—a riveting account of events that shaped the world from the Stone Age to the 1930s, illustrating the relevance of history to current events. Teachers and schools should add this to their reading lists."—Claire Martin, The Denver Post
"Witty, clear-eyed and humane, tells the sweeping story of humankind in 40 short and fascinating chapters . . ."— Susie Wilde, The News & Observer
“This ‘little history’ has aged amazingly well.”
“The true fairy tale of the evolution of mankind.”—Die Zeit
"Imagine the full story of human habitation on our planet being told in such flowing prose that you want to read it out loud. If you can't imagine that, read A Little History of the World and experience it!"—Patricia S. Schroeder, President and CEO of the Association of American Publishers and Former U.S. Representative from Colorado
"[A] brisk, clear-eyed trot through the centuries."—Tom Beer, Maine Sunday Telegram
Sumptuously illustrated…Perfect for reading to alert and curious children, but it’s even better as a secret pleasure, read alone, with no children in sight.”—Philip Kennicott, The Washington Post
Delightful…charming.”—PopMatters
"It certainly couldn't be done more agreeably:.. a perfect birthday present for a child with an enquiring mind. I wish it had been available when I was young."—Allan Massie, Literary Review
"A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich is a bedtime treat to share with my two children and proof that brilliance and perspicacity needn't be stuffy."—Bettany Hughes, The Times
"... an engrossing kaleidoscopic account of global history from the ancient Egyptians to the Treaty of Versailles."—Tristram Hunt, BBC History Magazine
"... the main body of the book retains an irresistible, boyish energy and enthusiasm... Here, in this little book are answers to many of the questions you never dared to ask."—Margaret Drabble, New Statesman
Gombrich opens with the most magical definition of history I have ever read. . . . Tolerance, reason and humanity . . . suffuse every page of the Little History.”—Amanda Vickery, Guardian Review
"... a marvellous antidote to history without chronology: the whole experience of human history, from prehistory to the Second World War, compressed into a flowing narrative... [Gombrich] excels in creating a sense of the continuities of history - the ways in which human nature has not budged over the millenium, and the smallness of the differences between people. A delight."—Robert Hanks, The Daily Telegraph
"I am going to buy ten copies of this book and give it to my ten favourite children... this is a book which teaches what it is to be civilised by its very tone, which is one of gentleness, curiosity and erudition."—A.N. Wilson, Times Literary Supplement
"A masterpiece of nonfiction writing for children. It is a wry and charming book, perfectly suited to the capacities of a 10-year-old, but also remarkably free of condescension. An adult can read it with pleasure. And, indeed, with instruction."—Scott McLemee, Newsday
"... ostensibly a book for children, designed to present a chronology of world history, but it's a delight for all ages. The pages sparkle with the learned author's wit and wisdom - and reading them, one feels as if Gombrich, one of the greatest ever art historians, is guiding one through time with a grandfatherly gleam in his eye."—Ben Schott, The Observer
"Christmas gift of the year is surely . . . A Little History of the World. This is a magical work for children. . . . Perfect for bedrime reading."—John Banville, Irish Times
"His enthusiasm for his subject is irresistible... With Gombrich's Little History, at last available in English there will be many generations of future historians who will attribute to it their lifelong passion for history - and for truth."—Lisa Jardine, The Times
"A brilliant piece of narrative, splendidly organised, told with an energy and confidence that are enormously attractive, and suffused with all the humanity and generosity of spirit that Gombrich's thousands of admirers came to cherish during his long and richly productive life. It's a wonderful surprise: irresistible, in fact."—Philip Pullman
"A remarkable book, written in an amiable, conversational style, effortlessly explaining, without condescension, difficult matters like the achievements of Charlemagne, the monetary system of medieval Europe and the ideas of the Enlightenment. . . . This resurrected history deserves reading for all its delights."—Edward Rothstein, New York Times
"In simple, vivid prose, Gombrich surveys the human past from pre-history to his own time. . . . Lucky children will have this book read to them. Intelligent adults will read it for themselves and regain contact with the spirit of European humanism at its best."—Anthony Grafton, Wall Street Journal
"A beautifully concise volume [that] will remind readers of any age that the past 5,000 years have been one big slugfest between darkness and enlightenment, unreason and reason."—Mary Ann Gwinn, Seattle Times
— Mary Ann Gwinn
"Gombrich accomplishes what many university-level Western Civilization classes cannot—a riveting account of events that shaped the world from the Stone Age to the 1930s, illustrating the relevance of history to current events. Teachers and schools should add this to their reading lists."—Claire Martin, The Denver Post
— Claire Martin
"Witty, clear-eyed and humane, tells the sweeping story of humankind in 40 short and fascinating chapters . . ."— Susie Wilde, The News & Observer
— Susie Wilde
"[A] brisk, clear-eyed trot through the centuries."—Tom Beer, Maine Sunday Telegram
— Tom Beer
“Sumptuously illustrated…Perfect for reading to alert and curious children, but it’s even better as a secret pleasure, read alone, with no children in sight.”—Philip Kennicott, The Washington Post
— Philip Kennicott
"It certainly couldn't be done more agreeably:.. a perfect birthday present for a child with an enquiring mind. I wish it had been available when I was young."—Allan Massie, Literary Review
— Allan Massie
"... an engrossing kaleidoscopic account of global history from the ancient Egyptians to the Treaty of Versailles."—Tristram Hunt, BBC History Magazine
— Tristram Hunt
“Gombrich opens with the most magical definition of history I have ever read. . . . Tolerance, reason and humanity . . . suffuse every page of the Little History.”—Amanda Vickery, Guardian Review
— Amanda Vickery
"... a marvellous antidote to history without chronology: the whole experience of human history, from prehistory to the Second World War, compressed into a flowing narrative... [Gombrich] excels in creating a sense of the continuities of history - the ways in which human nature has not budged over the millenium, and the smallness of the differences between people. A delight."—Robert Hanks, The Daily Telegraph
— Robert Hanks
"I am going to buy ten copies of this book and give it to my ten favourite children... this is a book which teaches what it is to be civilised by its very tone, which is one of gentleness, curiosity and erudition."—A.N. Wilson, Times Literary Supplement
— A.N. Wilson
"Christmas gift of the year is surely . . . A Little History of the World. This is a magical work for children. . . . Perfect for bedrime reading."—John Banville, Irish Times
— John Banville
"A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich is a bedtime treat to share with my two children and proof that brilliance and perspicacity needn't be stuffy."—Bettany Hughes, The Times
— Bettany Hughes
"... the main body of the book retains an irresistible, boyish energy and enthusiasm... Here, in this little book are answers to many of the questions you never dared to ask."—Margaret Drabble, New Statesman
— Margaret Drabble
"A masterpiece of nonfiction writing for children. It is a wry and charming book, perfectly suited to the capacities of a 10-year-old, but also remarkably free of condescension. An adult can read it with pleasure. And, indeed, with instruction."—Scott McLemee, Newsday
— Scott McLemee
"... ostensibly a book for children, designed to present a chronology of world history, but it's a delight for all ages. The pages sparkle with the learned author's wit and wisdom - and reading them, one feels as if Gombrich, one of the greatest ever art historians, is guiding one through time with a grandfatherly gleam in his eye."—Ben Schott, The Observer
— Ben Schott
"A remarkable book, written in an amiable, conversational style, effortlessly explaining, without condescension, difficult matters like the achievements of Charlemagne, the monetary system of medieval Europe and the ideas of the Enlightenment. . . . This resurrected history deserves reading for all its delights."—Edward Rothstein, New York Times
— Edward Rothstein
"In simple, vivid prose, Gombrich surveys the human past from pre-history to his own time. . . . Lucky children will have this book read to them. Intelligent adults will read it for themselves and regain contact with the spirit of European humanism at its best."—Anthony Grafton, Wall Street Journal
— Anthony Grafton
‘What was the bestselling title this Christmas at Foyles in London? Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall? Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo? Cormac McCarthy’s The Road? Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol? No. It was EH Gombrich’s A Little History of the World.’
— Mark Sanderson
"It is history to read aloud, on a cold evening, preferably by a fire."—Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times
— Susan Salter Reynolds
"A charming read that extends from prehistory to nuclear warfare and can be enjoyed also by adults in search of an instructive overview of the human drama."—First Things
''...an enduring joy... We have no shortage of historians eager to tell us what was important in the past and why; but few of them dare speak straight to the imagination of young people, to open their minds and to enrich their vision in the manner that Gombrich achieves so effortlessly here.'' - Peter Furtado, Times Higher Education Supplement
— Peter Furtado
Though written for kids, this is a book the whole family will love.”—Christy Karras, Salt Lake Tribune (Best Books of 2005)
— Christy Karras
"A timeless and engaging narrative of the human race."—Choice
"[A] lively and involving history. . . . Superbly designed and freshly illustrated, this is a book to be savored and collected. . . . This is a text dominated not by dates and facts, but by the sweep of mankind’s experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity’s achievements and an acute witness to its frailties. The product of a generous and humane sensibility, this timeless account makes intelligible the full span of human history."—Artdaily
First published in 1935 and revised before its re-release and translation in 2005, this charming survey of world history was originally written with older children in mind. But curious adults looking to brush up on the subject will find much to admire in its simplified narrative of Western Civilization's main plot line, from prehistory through WWII. British narrator Ralph Cosham is a perfect choice for this material. His tone and rhythm render Gombrich's clear, humane text in a warm and compelling reading. Translated from German, A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE WORLD offers a largely Euro-centric view of history, but it's a useful and entertaining overview, and Cosham's presentation compounds the pleasure. M.G. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169718652 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 01/01/2006 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Read an Excerpt
A LITTLE HISTORY of THE WORLD
By E. H. GOMBRICH
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 1985 DuMont Literatur und Kunst Verlag GmbH und Co. KG, Cologne, GermanyAll right reserved.
ISBN: 0-300-10883-4
Chapter One
Once Upon a Time
All stories begin with 'Once upon a time'. And that's just what this story is all about: what happened, once upon a time. Once you were so small that, even standing on tiptoes, you could barely reach your mother's hand. Do you remember? Your own history might begin like this: 'Once upon a time there was a small boy' - or a small girl - 'and that small boy was me.' But before that you were a baby in a cradle. You won't remember that, but you know it's true. Your father and mother were also small once, and so was your grandfather, and your grandmother, a much longer time ago, but you know that too. After all, we say: 'They are old.' But they too had grandfathers and grandmothers, and they, too, could say: 'Once upon a time'. And so it goes on, further and further back. Behind every 'Once upon a time' there is always another. Have you ever tried standing between two mirrors? You should. You will see a great long line of shiny mirrors, each one smaller than the one before, stretching away into the distance, getting fainter and fainter, so that you never see the last. But even when you can't see them any more, the mirrors still go on. They are there, and you know it.
And that's how it is with 'Once upon a time'. We can't see where it ends. Grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather ... it makes your head spin. But say it again, slowly, and in the end you'll be able to imagine it. Then add one more. That gets us quickly back into the past, and from there into the distant past. But you will never reach the beginning, because behind every beginning there's always another 'Once upon a time'.
It's like a bottomless well. Does all this looking down make you dizzy? It does me. So let's light a scrap of paper, and drop it down into that well. It will fall slowly, deeper and deeper. And as it burns it will light up the sides of the well. Can you see it? It's going down and down. Now it's so far down it's like a tiny star in the dark depths. It's getting smaller and smaller ... and now it's gone.
Our memory is like that burning scrap of paper. We use it to light up the past. First of all our own, and then we ask old people to tell us what they remember. After that we look for letters written by people who are already dead. And in this way we light our way back. There are buildings that are just for storing old scraps of paper that people once wrote on - they are called archives. In them you can find letters written hundreds of years ago. In an archive, I once found a letter which just said: 'Dear Mummy, Yesterday we ate some lovely truffles, love from William.' William was a little Italian prince who lived four hundred years ago. Truffles are a special sort of mushroom.
But we only catch glimpses, because our light is now falling faster and faster: a thousand years ... five thousand years ... ten thousand years. Even in those days there were children who liked good things to eat. But they couldn't yet write letters. Twenty thousand ... fifty thousand ... and even then people said, as we do, 'Once upon a time'. Now our memory-light is getting very small ... and now it's gone. And yet we know that it goes on much further, to a time long, long ago, before there were any people and when our mountains didn't look as they do today. Some of them were bigger, but as the rain poured down it slowly turned them into hills. Others weren't there at all. They grew up gradually, out of the sea, over millions and millions of years.
But even before the mountains there were animals, quite different from those of today. They were huge and looked rather like dragons. And how do we know that? We sometimes find their bones, deep in the ground. When I was a schoolboy in Vienna I used to visit the Natural History Museum, where I loved to gaze at the great skeleton of a creature called a Diplodocus. An odd name, Diplodocus. But an even odder creature. It wouldn't fit into a room at home - or even two, for that matter. It was as tall as a very tall tree, and its tail was half as long as a football pitch. What a tremendous noise it must have made, as it munched its way through the primeval forest!
But we still haven't reached the beginning. It all goes back much further - thousands of millions of years. That's easy enough to say, but stop and think for a moment. Do you know how long one second is? It's as long as counting: one, two, three. And how about a thousand million seconds? That's thirty-two years! Now, try to imagine a thousand million years! At that time there were no large animals, just creatures like snails and worms. And before then there weren't even any plants. The whole earth was a 'formless void'. There was nothing. Not a tree, not a bush, not a blade of grass, not a flower, nothing green. Just barren desert rocks and the sea. An empty sea: no fish, no seashells, not even any seaweed. But if you listen to the waves, what do they say? 'Once upon a time ...' Once the earth was perhaps no more than a swirling cloud of gas and dust, like those other, far bigger ones we can see today through our telescopes. For billions and trillions of years, without rocks, without water and without life, that swirling cloud of gas and dust made rings around the sun. And before that? Before that, not even the sun, our good old sun, was there. Only weird and amazing giant stars and smaller heavenly bodies, whirling among the gas clouds in an infinite, infinite universe.
'Once upon a time' - but now all this peering down into the past is making me feel dizzy again. Quick! Let's get back to the sun, to earth, to the beautiful sea, to plants and snails and dinosaurs, to our mountains, and, last of all, to human beings. It's a bit like coming home, isn't it? And just so that 'Once upon a time' doesn't keep dragging us back down into that bottomless well, from now on we'll always shout: 'Stop! When did that happen?'
And if we also ask, 'And how exactly did that happen?' we will be asking about history. Not just a story, but our story, the story that we call the history of the world. Shall we begin?
Chapter Two
The Greatest Inventors of All Time
Near Heidelberg, in Germany, somebody was once digging a pit when they came across a bone, deep down under the ground. It was a human bone. A lower jaw. But no human beings today have jaws like this one. It was so massive and strong, and had such powerful teeth! Whoever owned it must have been able to bite really hard. And must have lived a long time ago for the bone to be buried so deep.
On another occasion, but still in Germany - in the Neander valley - a human skull was found. And this was also immensely interesting because nobody alive today has a skull like this one either. Instead of a forehead like ours it just had two thick ridges above the eyebrows. Now, if all our thinking goes on behind our foreheads and these people didn't have any foreheads, then perhaps they didn't think as much as we do. Or at any rate, thinking may have been harder for them. So the people who examined the skull concluded that once upon a time there were people who weren't very good at thinking, but who were better at biting than we are today.
But now you're going to say: 'Stop! That's not what we agreed. When did these people live, what were they like, and how did they live?'
Your questions make me blush, as I have to admit that we don't know, precisely. But we will find out one day, and maybe you will want to help. We don't know because these people didn't yet know how to write things down, and memory only takes us a little way back. But we are making new discoveries all the time. Scientists have found that certain materials, such as wood and plants and volcanic rocks, change slowly but regularly over a very long period of time. This means that we can work out when they grew or were formed. And since the discoveries in Germany, people have carried on searching and digging, and have made some startling finds. In Asia and Africa, in particular, more bones have been found, some at least as old as the Heidelberg jaw. These were our ancestors who may have already been using stones as tools more than a hundred and fifty thousand years ago. They were different from the Neanderthal people who appeared about seventy thousand years earlier and inhabited the earth for about two hundred thousand years. And I owe the Neanderthal people an apology, for despite their low foreheads, their brains were no smaller than those of most people today.
'But all these "about"s, with no names and no dates ... this isn't history!' you say, and you are right. It comes before history. That is why we call it 'prehistory', because we only have a rough idea of when it all happened. But we still know something about the people whom we call prehistoric. At the time when real history begins - and we will come to that in the next chapter - people already had all the things we have today: clothes, houses and tools, ploughs to plough with, grains to make bread with, cows for milking, sheep for shearing, dogs for hunting and for company, bows and arrows for shooting and helmets and shields for protection. Yet with all of these things there must have been a first time. Someone must have made the discovery. Isn't it an amazing thought that, one day, a prehistoric man - or a woman - must have realised that meat from wild animals was easier to chew if it was first held over a fire and roasted? And that one day someone discovered how to make fire? Do you realise what that actually means? Can you do it? Not with matches, because they didn't exist. But by rubbing two sticks together until they become so hot that in the end they catch fire. Have a go and then you'll see how hard it is!
Tools must have been invented by someone too. The earliest ones were probably just sticks and stones. But soon stones were being shaped and sharpened. We have found lots of these shaped stones in the ground. And because of these stone tools we call this time the Stone Age. But people didn't yet know how to build houses. Not a pleasant thought, since at that time it was often intensely cold - at certain periods far colder than today. Winters were longer and summers shorter. Snow lay deep throughout the year, not only on mountain tops, but down in the valleys as well, and glaciers, which were immense in those days, spread far out into the plains. This is why we say that the Stone Age began before the last Ice Age had ended. Prehistoric people must have suffered dreadfully from the cold, and if they came across a cave where they could shelter from the freezing winds, how happy they must have been! For this reason they are also known as 'cavemen', although they may not have actually lived in caves.
Do you know what else these cavemen invented? Can't you guess? They invented talking. I mean having real conversations with each other, using words. Of course animals also make noises - they can cry out when they feel pain and make warning calls when danger threatens, but they don't have names for things as human beings do. And prehistoric people were the first creatures to do so.
They invented something else that was wonderful too: pictures. Many of these can still be seen today, scratched and painted on the walls of caves. No painter alive now could do better. The animals they depict don't exist any more, they were painted so long ago. Elephants with long, thick coats of hair and great, curving tusks - woolly mammoths - and other Ice Age animals. Why do you think these prehistoric people painted animals on the walls of caves? Just for decoration? That doesn't seem likely, because the caves were so dark. Of course we can't be sure, but we think they may have been trying to make magic, that they believed that painting pictures of animals on the walls would make those animals appear. Rather like when we say 'Talk of the devil!' when someone we've been talking about turns up unexpectedly. After all, these animals were their prey, and without them they would starve. So they may have been trying to invent a magic spell. It would be nice to think that such things worked. But they never have yet.
The Ice Age lasted for an unimaginably long time. Many tens of thousands of years, which was just as well, for otherwise these people would not have had time to invent all these things. But gradually the earth grew warmer and the ice retreated to the high mountains, and people - who by now were much like us - learnt, with the warmth, to plant grasses and then grind the seeds to make a paste which they could bake in the fire, and this was bread.
In the course of time they learnt to build tents and tame animals which until then had roamed freely around. And they followed their herds, as people in Lapland still do. Because forests were dangerous places in those days, home to large numbers of wild animals such as wolves and bears, people in several places (and this is often the case with inventors) had the same excellent idea: they built 'pile dwellings' in the middle of lakes, huts on stilts rammed deep in the mud. By this time they were masters at shaping and polishing their tools and used a different, harder stone to bore holes in their axe-heads for handles. That must have been hard work! Work which could take the whole of the winter. Imagine how often the axe-head must have broken at the last minute, so that they had to start all over again.
The next thing these people discovered was how to make pots out of clay, which they soon learnt to decorate with patterns and fire in ovens, although by this time, in the late Stone Age, they had stopped painting pictures of animals. In the end, perhaps six thousand years ago (that is, 4000 BC), they found a new and more convenient way of making tools: they discovered metals. Not all of them at once, of course. It began with some green stones which turn into copper when melted in a fire. Copper has a nice shine, and you can use it to make arrowheads and axes, but it is soft and gets blunt more quickly than stone.
But once again, people found an answer. They discovered that if you add just a little of another, very rare, metal, it makes the copper stronger. That metal is tin, and a mixture of tin and copper is called bronze. The age in which people made themselves helmets and swords, axes and cauldrons, and bracelets and necklaces out of bronze is, naturally, known as the Bronze Age.
Now let's take a last look at these people dressed in skins, as they paddle their boats made of hollowed-out tree trunks towards their villages of huts on stilts, bringing grain, or perhaps salt from mines in the mountains. They drink from splendid pottery vessels, and their wives and daughters wear jewellery made of coloured stones, and even gold. Do you think much has changed since then? They were people just like us. Often unkind to one another. Often cruel and deceitful. Sadly, so are we. But even then a mother might sacrifice her life for her child and friends might die for each other. No more but also no less often than people do today. And how could it be otherwise? After all, we're only talking about things that happened between three and ten thousand years ago. There hasn't been enough time for us to change!
So, just once in a while, when we are talking, or eating some bread, using tools or warming ourselves by the fire, we should remember those early people with gratitude, for they were the greatest inventors of all time.
Excerpted from A LITTLE HISTORY of THE WORLD by E. H. GOMBRICH Copyright © 1985 by DuMont Literatur und Kunst Verlag GmbH und Co. KG, Cologne, Germany. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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