World Famous Comics: A People's History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millennium, New Edition
A People's History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millennium, New Edition
By: Chris Harman Publisher: Verso Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Verso Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 760 Publication Date: April 07, 2008
Product Description: 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.
A great peoples history Great book. Nice to read something that focuses on people, not just great men. There should be more works like this, and I hope this is just the begining.
More Anti-American Drivel From the Left... Chris Harman's History starts out relatively interesting. His chapters on the Roman and on Medieval Europe were an interesting read. However, as the book progresses closer and closer to our present age, Harman flies of the handle. He touts Marxism (a system which has been shown to be an utter failure; just ask the millions of people killed in the name of Marxist beliefs) as the be all and end all of economic and governmental systems. He also goes out of his way to cover up, sugar coat, or completely ignore the the atrocities committed by Communist regimes that put Hitler's antics to shame. At the same time, Harman looks for any opportunity to trash the United States as an evil capitalist monster.
Chris Harman is just another whiny left wing malcontent. Those types are usually not happy unless they're dragging the rest of us down with them.
the first history of peoples from a marxist point of view there are many books which attempt to give us man's history. Harman, one of the leading Marxist writers of our time, try to write the history of man from marxist point of view. Just for this reason it is wortwhile to read. It is an important effort against the ideological/theoretical offensive of the so-called individualistic reading of our history.
A materialist view of history Chris Harman provides a materialist view of history from Stone Age to modern times, where changes in the forces (technology) and relations (ownership) of production are temporarily "resolved" (i.e. synthesized) through human choices, be it class struggles or lack of it (i.e. social stability). He reminds us that ideas are also important, as are contingent forces within a realist philosophy of science. This basic approach is misread by a reviewer. Harman also engages other perspectives, such as his insightful account of the transition from feudalism to capitalism (here the works of Postan, Sweezy, Brenner, etc are briefly discussed). The book provides excellent value for money.
Not a good book A People's History of the World manages to make world history boring. Harman, in trying to make a general review of history, seems to purposefully shy away from talking at length about any specific detail--meaning all the exciting tidbits of history are left out. One example: Harman doesn't talk at all about the interesting personalities of the different Roman emperors. Illustrative descriptions of interesting historical figures or important battles or forms of government are absent and new technologies are mentioned but not really described. For example, Harman will mention the impact of an innovation in plowing, but won't describe to the reader at all what this innovation was.
There also aren't any pictures--or for that matter, any maps, graphs, or charts. (A history book without maps!? Come on!)
Harman's view of history as a series of class struggles is also really, really boring, partially because he is so convinced of it being correct that he hardly includes other (more interesting) takes on history. He also doesn't really seem to understand the ideas and philosophies he belittles in his book. History is not just a litany of events or a bunch of descriptions of failed class struggles--it should also be about the history of ideas, and a description of all the different ways that human beings have survived in and made sense of the world.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
