Sioux Falls Scientists endorse National Geographic Concise History
of the World for bringing us a detailed up-to-date history
of the world going back over 5,000 years.

National Geographic
Concise History of the World
An Illustrated Time Line
By Neil Kagan and Jerry Bentley

National Geographic Concise History of the World (2013) - 416 pages
National Geographic Concise History of the World at Amazon.com

A Panoramic View of the Past

From the rise of major religions to the fall of great civilizations, from vast human migrations to individual exploits and achievements, from the emergence of Homo sapiens more than 250,000 years ago to the interconnected world of today, here is history as you've never seen it before.

National Geographic Concise History of the World: An Illustrated Time Line divides the epic story of humanity into eight major eras. Each era is explored through a unique design that combines concise introductory text essays with expansive time lines, dozens of maps, and hundreds of illustrations, sidebars, and photo essays. The result is both fascinating and easy to use and reminds us on every page that history is made up of countless threads and themes, all unfolding at once and many interconnected.

A must-have reference book for the entire family

• Authoritative text surveys the events and historical trends of eight major eras in human history
• More than 130 unique time lines feature over 9,000 entries covering historic events, ideas, and individuals around the globe
• More than 115 sidebars accompany and amplify the illustrated time lines
• More than 245 illustrations and 25 picture essays document history and explore the unique contributions made by a particular society or connections between societies
• Global perspectives on the past help make sense of today's headlines and current affairs
• More than 40 boxed features entitled What Life Was Like and Connections describe how people lived and interacted
• Quotes throughout chapters define each era in the words of poets, philosophers, politicians, and others who embodied their times
• Text reviewed by a Board of Advisers offers a unique global perspective on world history and expertise on the history of North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Oceania
• More than 40 superb National Geographic maps portray the spread of ideas and cultures
• A World at a Glance appendix portrays key events and innovations from prehistory to the present, organized by historical themes - Politics & Power, Geography & Environment, Culture & Religion, Science & Technology, and People & Society

This fascinating, thought-provoking, and endlessly informative book adds a new dimension to our understanding of world history. Sweeping from the dawn of humankind to the devastating Christmas tsunami of 2004, it provides fresh insights with every colorful, expansive spread. Few reference resources are as invaluable and all-inclusive; fewer still are as irresistibly satisfying to browse.

The result of an intensive research effort, this volume divides the story of human history into eight eras, with introductory text essays that survey the major events and historical trends of each era. It features dozens of maps, scores of sidebars, hundreds of illustrations, and thousands of entries on events, individuals, ideas, and inventions. But what truly sets this book apart is its innovative, illuminating system of multitiered time lines that arrange entries by multicolored time lines that arrange entries by multitiered time lines that arrange entries by topic and region. Open National Geographic Concise History of the World: An Illustrated Time Line to any page, and you will find surprising historical developments around the globe:

• In 1252 the Inquisition begins using torture instruments to suppress heresy while Jain temples, sanctuaries for the nonviolent, are constructed in India.
• When Karl Marx published The Communist Manifesto in 1848, Abraham Lincoln was a Whig Congressman from Illinois.
• In the early 1900s, when the Wright brothers were the first to fly an airplane, Einstein was formulating his theory of relativity, Picasso was introducing the world to modern art, and Typhoid Mary was spreading disease in New York.

Concise yet comprehensive, this extraordinary volume takes advantage of the vast resources of National Geographic to create a superb, one-of-a-kind reference as enlightening as it is educational, and as rewarding as it is compulsively readable.

Neil Kagan heads Kagan & Associates, Inc., an editorial company specializing in creating innovative illustrated books. Over his 30-year career, the former publisher/managing editor and director of new product development for Time-Life Books created numerous book series including the award-winning Voices of the Civil War, What Life Was Like, Our American Century, and the Time Life Student Library. As an accomplished photographer and creative director, Kagan brings a strong vision to designing illustrated history books.

Jerry H. Bentley is a professor of history at the University of Hawaii and editor of the Journal of World History. His early publications focused on the religious, moral, and political thought of Renaissance humanists. More recently his research has concentrated on the history of cross-cultural interactions. His recent publications include Old World Encounters: Cross Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (1993), Shapes of World History in Twentieth-Century Scholarship (1996) and (with Herbert F. Ziegler) Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past (2000, 2003).

National Geographic
Concise History of the World
An Illustrated Time Line
By Neil Kagan and Jerry Bentley

Sioux Falls Scientists endorse National Geographic Concise History
of the World for bringing us a detailed up-to-date history
of the world going back over 5,000 years.