A Little History Of The World

Book Name : A Little History Of The World
Author : E.H. Gombrich

What is it about : Forty short essays of the more significant chapters of the world history as we know it, told by the Author in a grand-fatherly voice, in a manner that made me think of him possibly holding his mug of hot coco while he spoke. The Greats, The Terribles, The Conquerors, The Dictators, The Wars, The Peace and The Faiths, were all there, described at a high-level, but without sacrificing the importance and impacts of the roles and events. The book covered much of the Western spheres with a few interesting add-ons from the East such as The Buddha, Confucius et al.

Some thoughts after having read the book : I finished the book over a surprisingly fast one week period, all to show the writing and summation power the Author garnered as well as the skills in presenting those "boring" stories I dreaded in Primary School. The Author successfully turned cold historical facts into interesting, relevant and insightful messages. The personal experience of the Author during WWII added extra dimensions and relevance and he gave his heart-felt comments on that sad chapter of human history.

Would I recommend this book to you : Excellent, relaxing reading and I could just dive straight in to the parts of our history that tickled my fancy, without having to read the book in a chronological sequence. I would recommend the book especially to early teens whom at that age would have started studying HISTORY and might as I did, find the subject daunting, boring, impersonal, irrelevant - the book would go a long long way to entice the teenage readers and turn these aspects around.

The Rebirth Of East Europe

Book Name : The Rebirth Of East Europe
Author : Michael G. Roskin

What is it about : A fairly detailed historical account of the lands squeezed between the four empires - Ottoman, Habsburg, Tsarist (and later Communist) Russian and Prussian (Germany). Who are these peoples who prospered and suffered as these empires peaked and ebbed ? The explanations of why these lands became the battle grounds of the two World Wars were presented. And of course included were the colorful accounts of those starring roles played out by the royalties, heroes, villains, puppets and bystanders. The author spared no blushes in presenting a critique of how and why Communism failed and as all good thesis, gave a few pointers of the hopeful future at the end of the book.

Some thoughts after having read the book : As I was reading through the book, one question in particular repeatedly stood out - how come A Shining White Knight never came to the rescue ? OK, how about an Iron Chancellor, a charismatic politician or a forceful peasant leader - no, none of those. These lands never united to form a force and had no luck in bringing out a formidable leadership and the result was devastating - a battle ground and the spoils of war for the taking. Sad but intriguing to learn the history of these countries.

Would I recommend this book to you : I read this book as background for our trip to these countries in May 2013 and the book provided more than enough for that purpose. In fact, the core materials would stand you in good stead in passing an O-Level on this topic. However, I did find the author at times, opinionated and not as subjective as I would like; but looking at it as the author telling you strictly his points of views, then the book became a fascinating "Western" commentary. Pick it up for an easy and interesting read.