From the dawn of humankind to today's global complexities, this
monumental volume presents world history from an original perspective
that provides fresh insights with every colorful spread. Few references
are as invaluable, all-inclusive, and satisfying to browse. For readers
of all ages, world history is easily accessible, depicted as never
before--so that events occurring simultaneously around the world can be
viewed at-a-glance together. For example, Texas Instruments launched the
pocket calculator the same year the Soviet Union launched the first
manned space station, in 1971. Columbus sailed from Spain the year
Martin Behaim constructed a terrestrial globe in Nuremberg. The
California Gold Rush followed the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s, and
the Greek dictatorship of Papadopoulos is overthrown the same year
Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is deposed and U.S. president Nixon
resigns, in 1974. The book's innovative time line truly sets it apart,
allowing readers to scan across a spread and explore a single area or
compare contemporary societies across the globe.
This remarkable resource also contains dozens of maps; scores of
sidebars; hundreds of illustrations; and thousands of events,
milestones, personalities, ideas, and inventions. Throughout, vivid
illustrations depict artworks, artifacts, portraits and dramatic scenes,
while sidebar topics range from local customs and lifestyles to the
effect of climate change on human migration. Drawing on National
Geographic's vast resources, this concise yet comprehensive,
one-of-a-kind work is as rewarding as it is compulsively readable.
