Synopses & Reviews
The only comprehensive "bottom up" history of the world from the earliest human society to the twenty-first century.From earliest human society to the Holy Roman Empire, from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, from the Industrial Revolution to the end of the millennium, Chris Harman provides a brilliant and comprehensive history of the planet.
Eschewing the standard histories of "Great Men," of dates and kings, Harman offers a groundbreaking counter-history, a breathtaking sweep across the centuries in the tradition of "history from below." In a fiery narrative he shows how ordinary men and women were involved in creating and changing society and how conflict between classes was often at the core of these changes.
While many pundits see the victory of capitalism as now safely secured, Harman explains the rise and fall of societies and civilizations throughout the ages and demonstrates that history never ends. This magisterial study is essential reading for anyone interested in how society has changed and developed and the possibilities for further radical change in the new millennium.
Includes timelines, glossaries of people, places and terms, guides to further reading, and a detailed index.
Review
"The left ... has few accounts which convey as well as this book does the broad sweep of human history." Robin Blackburn
Synopsis
The only comprehensive "bottom up" history of the world from the earliest human society to the twenty-first century.
Synopsis
Chris Harman describes the shape and course of human history as a narrative of ordinary people forming and re-forming complex societies in pursuit of common human goals. Interacting with the forces of technological change as well as the impact of powerful individuals and revolutionary ideas, these societies have engendered events familiar to every schoolchild - from the empires of antiquity to the world wars of the twentieth century.
In a bravura conclusion, Chris Harman exposes the reductive complacency of contemporary capitalism, and asks, in a world riven as never before by suffering and inequality, why we imagine that it can - or should - survive much longer. Ambitious, provocative and invigorating, A People's History of the Worlddelivers a vital corrective to traditional history, as well as a powerful sense of the deep currents of humanity which surge beneath the froth of government.
About the Author
Chris Harman (1942-2009) was the author of numerous books including A People’s History of the World, The Fire Last Time: 1968 and After and The Lost Revolution: Germany 1918-23. He was editor of International Socialism Journal and was previously the editor of Socialist Worker for over two decades—you can read his Guardian obituary here.