Customer Reviews:
 Timelines of World History October 8, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Timelines of the World is a must have reference for every household. This huge book summarizes each period of history from the prehistoric world to the modern day. Each period (early humanity, the advent of agriculture, early civilizations, the early classical age, the renaissance, the Cold War, and many other periods) is divided into a separate chapter which includes a map labelled with important aspects of that part of history and timeline entries for Asia, Africa, Europe, Australasia, and the Americas as well as short illustrated articles and entries describing important aspects of that time period from architecture through artifacts and famous individuals.
Timelines of the World will remain an important reference in my home for a very long time. I found the entries interesting and very relevant. I was thoroughly impressed that the timelines actually showed what was happening on each continent during each of these periods. Too often, history references focus on specific cultures during specific events and never really show what was happening elsewhere at the time. I was also pleased that the timelines were broken into reasonable amount of time (usually between 10 and 25 year periods) so that a good deal of detail could be provided on each of these tables.
 A fascinating way to explore history December 10, 2002
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
Timelines is huge in scope, covering the history of the entire world from pre-historic times until 2002. As you would expect, the author gives more or less detail for each period, depending upon the rate of progress at the time. To give an idea, the main section of the book runs to 460 pages. Pages 12 to 80 take us from 10,000 B.C.E to the year 1 C.E., pages 384 to 543 cover the 20th century.The timeline pages divide the world into four columns, typically Asia, Africa, Europe and Americas & Australia. Major events are shown down the page. For example, in Europe in 1474, "Habsburgs recognize the independance of Swiss League. Treaty of Utrecht grants Hanseatic League major trading advantages in England. Novgorod incorporated into grand duchy of Muscovy." In the sidebars, small articles appear giving more details about a particular event, place or person, complete with a relevant photograph or picture. Small timelines also appear in the sidebars relating to a particular subject. For example, "European Voyages of Discovery" lists about twenty explorational voyages between 1481 and 1595. Each major section, typically covering about 200 years, starts with about six pages of summary, plus a fold out world map showing the political borders of the time. Finally, at the back where the index might otherwise be, is the two hundred page Concordance, which lists major events, people and places in alphabetical order. Each entry has a short description and lists relevant dates. The dates can be looked up in the main section of the book as each page has the dates it covers printed in the bottom corner. This is a fascinating book for just dipping into occasionally. The pictures, diagrams and maps make it visually exciting. Because it is arranged as a timeline, it is possible to learn something of those periods and places that enjoy less coverage elsewhere. The Concordance section makes it good as a general reference too. The level of detail can not be very fine in a book of this type, but it's a great way to get a general overview before looking elsewhere for more detail. Perhaps the one downside is that there are no further reading references, but in a world of Amazon and Google, this is not a big concern.
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