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| A Little History of the World
ISBN: 9780300132076
Platform/Publisher: Ebook Central / Yale University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Limited; Download: 7 Days at a Time
Subjects: Geography/ Travel; History;
This is an unusual work for Yale: a children's history originally published 70 years ago. But it is a work one can quickly come to love. Gombrich, later known as an art historian, wrote this primer in 1935, when he was a young man in Vienna (it was soon banned by the Nazis as too "pacifist"). Rewritten (and updated) in English mainly by Gombrich himself (who died in 2001, age 92, while working on it), the book is still aimed at children, as the language makes clear: "Then, slowly the clouds parted to reveal the starry night of the Middle Ages." But while he addresses his readers directly at times, Gombrich never talks down to them. Using vivid imagery, storytelling and sly humor, he brings history to life in a way that adults as well as children can appreciate. The book displays a breadth of knowledge, as Gombrich begins with prehistoric man and ends with the close of WWII. In the final, newly added chapter, Gombrich's tone sadly darkens as he relates the rise of Hitler and his own escape from the Holocaust-children, he writes, "must learn from history how easy it is for human beings to be transformed into inhuman beings"-and ends on a note of cautious optimism about humanity's future. (Oct. 13) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich, born March 30, 1909, in Vienna, Austria, was educated at Vienna University where he earned a Ph.D. His career includes terms as Slade Professor of Fine Arts at Oxford and Cambridge universities and as Andrew D. White Professor-at-large at Cornell University. Gombrich's books on art and art history have sold as well as some works of fiction. One of his most popular titles is The Story of Art, which has been translated into 18 languages and sold more than two million copies. Other titles are; Looking for Answers: Conversations on Art and Science (with Didier Eribon), Shadows: The Depiction of Cast Shadows in Western Art, and Gombrich on Art and Psychology. His numerous awards include the Erasmus Prize in 1975, the Hegel Prize in 1976, and the International Balzan Prize in 1985. He holds honorary degrees from various universities, among them Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard, and from the Royal College of Art (London), 1981. (Bowker Author Biography) |
