History of the World [1] is a compendium written by a collection of noted historians. It was edited by William Nassau Weech, M.A., a former Headmaster of Sedbergh School (and a very early aficionado of downhill skiing who also wrote By Ski in Norway, one of the first British accounts of the sport). First published by Odhams in 1944, History of the World ran to three editions, the second edition in 1959, and the third in 1965. The editor, W.N. Weech, wrote in the Preface:
"This book is designed for the ordinary man or woman, who should have no difficulty in getting through it in a month, though many may prefer to compress their first reading of it into a fortnight."
W.N. Weech's History of the World is notable for bearing comparison with Ernst Gombrich's best-selling Little History of the World , a book that is shorter and is addressed to younger readers. (Gombrich, a Jewish émigré from Vienna, was an art historian better known for his classic work, The Story of Art .) Weech's book is noteworthy, not only for being both thorough and accessible, but also (not unlike Gombrich's) for maintaining a tolerant and measured style, despite being written during the dark days of Nazism.
A contributor at the 2011 Hay Festival cited Weech's book as a remarkable discovery.
Each chapter has a separate author, as follows: There are many authors that have their own ideas
Curiously, the 1944 first edition does not state its publication date. The latest event it records is the Japanese expansion into the Pacific zone after their bombing of Pearl Harbour in December, 1941. The book is printed on poor-quality wartime paper, which is all that was available at that stage of the Second World War. In the Preface, W.N. Weech adds, "I owe a debt of gratitude to my publishers for producing this History of the World in spite of all the present difficulties ...", "present difficulties" presumably being an understatement for the War.
The dust jacket of the first edition has two illustrations on the front and back, with numerous notable names from history. On the front cover are Wellington, Nelson, Lincoln, Napoleon, King William, Henry VIII, Custer, Bismarck, Charlemagne, and unidentified fighters of the RAF, the British Army and Royal Navy and the Afrika Korps. On the back we find Jesus Christ, an Arab (who may be Mohammed), Julius Caesar, Tutankhamen and others, including a Viking, a Mongol, an Assyrian and a Greek.
Arnold Joseph Toynbee was an English historian, a philosopher of history, an author of numerous books and a research professor of international history at the London School of Economics and King's College London. From 1918 to 1950, Toynbee was considered a leading specialist on international affairs; from 1929 to 1956 he was the Director of Studies at Chatham House, in which position he also produced 34 volumes of the Survey of International Affairs, a "bible" for international specialists in Britain.
Harold James Ruthven Murray was a British educationalist, inspector of schools, and prominent chess historian. His book, A History of Chess, is widely regarded as the most authoritative and comprehensive history of the game.
Glimpses of World History is a book published by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1934. The book is subtitled Being further letters to his daughter, written in prison, and containing a rambling account of history for young people.
Henry Watson Fowler was an English schoolmaster, lexicographer and commentator on the usage of the English language. He is notable for both A Dictionary of Modern English Usage and his work on the Concise Oxford Dictionary, and was described by The Times as "a lexicographical genius".
Colchester Royal Grammar School (CRGS) is a state-funded grammar school in Colchester, Essex. It was founded in 1128 and was later granted two royal charters - by Henry VIII in 1539 and by Elizabeth I in 1584.
Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Kingdom.
The Story of Art, by E. H. Gombrich, is a survey of the history of art from ancient times to the modern era.
Sedbergh School is a public school in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, North West England. It comprises a junior school for pupils aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. It was established in 1525.
The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith and originally published in London by Taylor, Walton and John Murray from 1844 to 1849 in three volumes of more than 3,700 pages. It is a classic work of 19th-century lexicography. The work is a companion to Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities and Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.
Richard John Alexander Talbert is a British-American contemporary ancient historian and classicist on the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was William Rand Kenan, Jr., Professor of History (1988-2020) and then Research Professor in charge of the Ancient World Mapping Center until his retirement in 2024. Talbert is a leading scholar of ancient geography and ideas of space in the ancient Mediterranean world.
Theodore H. Draper was an American historian and political writer. Draper is best known for the 14 books he completed during his life, including work regarded as seminal on the formative period of the American Communist Party, the Cuban Revolution, and the Iran–Contra Affair. Draper was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the 1990 recipient of the Herbert Feis Award for Nonacademically Affiliated Historians from the American Historical Association.
Joseph A. Skinger was an American metalsmith and sculptor of the 1950s and 1960s. He practiced in Vermont, and as a craftsman his work in hand-wrought jewelry was primarily carried out in silver. He designed and created production pieces made by himself and his assistant Gay Bessette. In addition he created unique jewelry pieces, often in molten silver and sometimes combined with stones or wood. In sculpture the main body of his work was in molten silver and cast bronze. Other sculptural works were created in wood, copper, and corrugated fiberglass.
A Little History of the World is a history book by Ernst Gombrich. It was written in 1935 in Vienna, Austria, when Gombrich was 26 years old. He was rewriting it for English readers when he died in 2001, at the age of 92, in London. Gombrich insisted that only he translate the book into English. After his death, the translation was completed, according to his wishes, by Caroline Mustill, an assistant to Gombrich from 1995 until his death, and his granddaughter Leonie Gombrich. It was published in 2005 by Yale University Press.
Cyril Argentine Alington was an English educationalist, scholar, cleric, and author. He was successively the headmaster of Shrewsbury School and Eton College. He also served as chaplain to King George V and as Dean of Durham.
Richard Francis Gombrich is a British Indologist and scholar of Sanskrit, Pāli, and Buddhist studies. He was the Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford from 1976 to 2004. He is currently Founder-President of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. He is a past president of the Pali Text Society (1994–2002) and general editor emeritus of the Clay Sanskrit Library.
Short History of the World may refer to:
Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth was an English schoolteacher and amateur naturalist who wrote one of the first field guides to the butterflies of the Indian region. He was also involved in censuses of the Asiatic lion at the Gir forest.
John Andrew Boyle, was a British historian, an accomplished linguist, and Oriental scholar.
Bentham Grammar School was an independent school in Bentham, North Yorkshire, England. The school was founded in 1726 but closed in 2002 due to dwindling pupil numbers.
Elizabeth Senior was an art historian and Assistant Keeper in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. She was also a book editor for Penguin Books.