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A review by kimberlyjerger
The Story of Mankind by Robert Sullivan, John Merriman, Hendrik Willem van Loon
1.0
*1.5
1922 Newbery Medal
The first recipient of the Newbery Medal, van Loon’s The Story of Mankind attempts to trace human history from prehistorical to contemporaneous times.
While acknowledging limitations in his aims and scope, including the Euro-centric focus, The Story of Mankind tends to emphasize odd moments or people in history, often outside of the established chronology or with only brief mention. Significant events are often understated and overshadowed by unrelated descriptions. Especially for a work aimed at younger audiences, it seems that the author presupposes some trivial bits of knowledge that his audience is not likely to know and would make the book less accessible. illustrations are practically useless: the writings on maps is generally unreadable and incoherently spaced, while the drawings of people, landscapes, and events are too stylized to accurately depict its subject, and thus serve little purpose beyond breaking up large chunks of text. Overall, The Story of Mankind is a passable introduction to word history through a (western) European lens.
1922 Newbery Medal
The first recipient of the Newbery Medal, van Loon’s The Story of Mankind attempts to trace human history from prehistorical to contemporaneous times.
While acknowledging limitations in his aims and scope, including the Euro-centric focus, The Story of Mankind tends to emphasize odd moments or people in history, often outside of the established chronology or with only brief mention. Significant events are often understated and overshadowed by unrelated descriptions. Especially for a work aimed at younger audiences, it seems that the author presupposes some trivial bits of knowledge that his audience is not likely to know and would make the book less accessible. illustrations are practically useless: the writings on maps is generally unreadable and incoherently spaced, while the drawings of people, landscapes, and events are too stylized to accurately depict its subject, and thus serve little purpose beyond breaking up large chunks of text. Overall, The Story of Mankind is a passable introduction to word history through a (western) European lens.