A Little History of the World

by E.H. Gombrich

A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich is a charming account of the whole of world history in under 300 pages. Gombrich was from Vienna, and the book was first published in German in 1936. It was written with young adults in mind, and the book aims not just to recount key events, but also to infect the reader with excitement about history, and why it’s relevant. (The last chapter, about the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe in the 1930s—which Gombrich himself experienced—is quite upsetting to read today, as populist politicians again find scapegoats to blame problems on).