In 1935, with a doctorate in art history and no prospect of a job, the 26-year-old Ernst Gombrich was invited by a publishing acquaintance to attempt a history of the world for younger readers. Amazingly, he completed the task in an intense six weeks, was published in Vienna to immediate success, and is now available in seventeen languages across the world.

Toward the end of his long life, Gombrich embarked upon a revision and, at last, an English translation. A Little History of the World presents his lively and involving history to English-language readers for the first time.

In forty concise chapters, Gombrich tells the story of man from the stone age to the atomic bomb. In between emerges a colorful picture of wars and conquests, grand works of art, and the spread and limitations of science. This is a text dominated not by dates and facts, but by the sweep of mankind’s experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity’s achievements and an acute witness to its frailties.

Please note: Gombrich was not a Catholic, but lived in Austria when it was still a Catholic country. Although he presents a very fair and even-handed story of the Reformation period, he was a strong pacifist which shows most in his criticism of Cortez and the Spanish conquest of the Americas.

Read the review by Ana Braga-Henebry, Catholic home educator and imigrant from South America for more insight on this delightful book.

Written in story form at a middle school level, this little book provides a delightful overview of world history which will provide interesting family discussions.