The Human Story: Our History, From the Stone Age to TodayHarper Collins, 29.06.2004 г. - 466 страници Has there ever been a history of the world as readable as this? In The Human Story, James C. Davis takes us on a journey to ancient times, telling how peoples of the world settled down and founded cities, conquered neighbors, and established religions, and continues over the course of history, when they fought two nearly global wars and journeyed into space. Davis's account is swift and clear, never dull or dry. He lightens it with pungent anecdotes and witty quotes. Although this compact volume may not be hard to pick up, it's definitely hard to put down. For example, on the death of Alexander the Great, who in a decade had never lost a single battle, and who had staked out an empire that spanned the entire Near East and Egypt, Davis writes: "When they heard how ill he was, the king's devoted troops insisted on seeing him. He couldn't speak, but as his soldiers -- every one -- filed by in silence, Alexander's eyes uttered his farewells. He died in June 323 B.C., at the ripe old age of thirty-two." In similar fashion Davis recounts Russia's triumph in the space race as it happened on an autumn night in 1957: "A bugle sounded, flames erupted, and with a roar like rolling thunder, Russia's rocket lifted off. It bore aloft the earth's first artificial satellite, a shiny sphere the size of a basketball. Its name was Sputnik, meaning 'companion' or 'fellow traveler' (through space). The watchers shouted, 'Off. She's off. Our baby's off!' Some danced; others kissed and waved their arms." Though we live in an age of many doubts, James C. Davis thinks we humans are advancing. As The Human Story ends, he concludes, "The world's still cruel; that's understood, / But once was worse. So far so good." |
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... village in the Czech Republic prehistorians found a pile of bones of more than a hundred mammoths , and on a site in Russia searchers found remains of more than two hundred of them . BY FIFTY THOUSAND YEARS AGO , we had spread through ...
... village , and the acids in the partially decomposed plants preserved what would otherwise have rotted . Not only bones sur- vived here , but also garbage , wood , and even the chewed leaves of a shrub that the villagers used as a drug ...
... village life began . It didn't happen that a solitary genius thought up farming , and that news about this great invention raced around the earth . Humans must have made the shift to farming in something like the manner we described ...
... village . They dwelt in small round mud - brick huts , but they built a massive wall around their village and a tower ten yards high . They were prosperous enough to have to fear the hunter - bandits in the nearby hills and desert . THE ...
... villages and towns , work at many trades , obey a government , worship a god or gods , and read and write . Of course humans didn't become " civi- lized " at some specific moment . However , the place where this happened first was ...
Съдържание
1 | |
11 | |
31 | |
Two ancient cities follow diverse paths | 48 |
China excels and endures | 68 |
Some attempt to rule us all | 87 |
We found the worldwide faiths | 107 |
Europe prepares for its big role | 127 |
A Leader tries to shape a master race | 311 |
We wage a wider crueler | 323 |
The Asian giants try to feed their poor | 351 |
Some of us do well | 372 |
We walk along the brink | 398 |
We do the unbelievable | 420 |
So Far So Good | 441 |
Recommended Reading | 443 |
We find each other | 147 |
The New World falls to the Old one | 167 |
We suffer famine war and plague | 182 |
We discover who we are and where we live | 195 |
Here and there the people rule | 215 |
We make more and live better | 235 |
The richer countries grab the poorer | 248 |
We multiply and shrink the earth | 263 |
We wage a war to end | 277 |
A utopia becomes a nightmare | 295 |
Permissions | 451 |
Index | 453 |
235 | 456 |
277 | 457 |
311 | 458 |
ླ ིི ླ ཌ ླཆ + 351 | 459 |
398 | 461 |
441 | 462 |