History
Oh no! I can already hear you begin to yawn, and see you stretch, get ready to hit delete on this blog post. History…boring…
Does the subject conjure dusty books, antiquated items, and archaic thoughts? Perhaps long, monotone lectures in stuffy classrooms.
Bells, whistles, sirens, and other alerts sound in the pages of history. From today’s perspective, it is easy to look back and say, “What the heck were they thinking when they made that decision?” But if we haven’t studied the actions of our forebears, how can we avoid repeating their errors?
What do you recall of your history lessons? The evolution of art and music? The dichotomy and enmity of different religious teachings? Famous people or wars? Forced migrations of cultural groups? Or do you draw a total blank?
Perhaps you learned dates, names, and other facts to regurgitate on exams but, in the process, failed to see and understand the larger processes at play which were the root cause of the rise and fall of great nations.
There is so much recorded history behind us, how can one ever hope to learn even a portion of the accumulated knowledge? The following text presents detailed information beginning from 4500 BC up to 2005 (publication date). The Author, Bernard Grun, translated his first edition from an earlier German text from 1946, Kulturfahrplan (The Culture Timetables), by Werner Stein. Wallace Brockway, an American scholar, curated American topics. Unfortunately, both men died before publishing the book, but other learned individuals stepped up to complete the project. Since the initial printing ongoing work has been accomplished to keep the data timely. The most recent volume, 2005, was an update from the 1991 Third Edition.
Nerd Alert: an author friend recommended this fact-filled volume. I’ve found the resource helpful to ensure I don’t link cultural/historical events which belong in one time period to another-it would be a huge writing faux pax. The book is organized in seven column tables: 1) influential leaders/political events, 2) theatre and literature, 3) religion/learning/philosophy, 4) visual arts, 5) music, 6) scientific/technological inventions, and 7) daily life, trends, and innovations.
Do you enjoy learning about history and how it has shaped our modern world? The 848-page book is available to read for free at the Internet Archive, or at a reasonable price at Amazon, in both hardcover and paperback format if you wish to keep a copy on hand for easy reference.
I must confess the above publication is only black and white. Sorry, no colorful glitzy graphics. However, you can locate brighter, more visually pleasing charts online by simply searching for “history timeline chart” and looking at “images.”
Another option is to check out the online World History Encyclopedia, a full-color, exhaustive review of known history, where you can search by both time period and topic.
Are you intrigued to review your historical knowledge? Are you concerned about the direction of today’s current events and wonder where they may lead us? Perhaps a good long look in the rearview mirror would help us all.
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