The Oxford Illustrated History of the World
by Felipe Fernández-Armesto
“Our aim is to see the world whole with objectivity hard to attain for humans trapped in our own history.” Thus the authors of The Oxford Illustrated History of the World explain the aim of the book, which includes contributions from a group of eminent historians and covers 200,000 years or, to put it another way, the whole of human history.
The Oxford Illustrated History of the World is an ambitious book, and not a light read: it’s for history fans who really want to know what happened down the ages. As one would expect, not all the authors agree and there is room for different interpretations. That said, the wonderful illustrations, for example of the 35,000-year old mammoth ivory carving of a woman’s body, mean its appeal is far greater than just academic. Read this and you can tell your friends that you know the whole of human history, which hopefully will impress them.
Felipe Fernández-Armesto spoke to Five Books about the best books on global history.
The book, according to the author