The No-Nonsense Guide to World History (No-Nonsense Guides)

Rating:
Summary: *
Review: I love this book because it fills in the gaps in my knowledge from random high school history courses. I've only read 40 pages, but every page is so jam-packed that I feel like I've read an entire history book already!

Rating:
Summary: 136 Pages of Brilliance
Review: Possibly the greatest dip-your-toe-into-the-weird-and-wonderful-world-of-human-history guide out there. Easily digestible, sometimes funny, and always on the mark, Brazier's little gem will give readers (young and old) the confidence to wade into deeper waters with greater clarity and deeper understanding. History properly taught is not a series of mindless dates and mindless wars. Rather, it's a cherished uncle (or aunt) sitting you down in your favourite chair and revealing the world of your family and friends, near and far, known and unknown, in all their glory and all their folly. And if you think I'm an historian, I'm not. I'm just extremely excited to finally get a handle, a small though important handle, on world history. Kudos to Chris Brazier.

Rating:
Summary: *
Review: The author is obviously a communist, and I got sick of all the leftist sermonizing. Absurd and callous sermonizing. Take these ridiculous thoughts from p. 120: "Mao's dictatorial social engineering had its disastrous effects too - an estimated 20 million died in the famine caused by the Great Leap Forward...But the Chinese Revolution still deserves to be seen as a fantastic achievment." I'm not making this up!! I think any of those 20 million would disagree about Mao having committed a "fantastic achievment." Mr. Brazier might want to look at page 5 of THE BLACK BOOK OF COMMUNISM published by the Harvard University Press, where it says: "China's experience under Mao is unprecedented in terms of the sheer number of people who lost their lives...65 million." Brazier wrote a silly, silly book.

Rating:
Summary: A brief *and* complete world history book? Yes, this is....
Review: The No-Nonsense Guide To World History is an iconoclastic survey of the hidden histories, continents, and communities usually overlooked and unmentioned by traditional, Eurocentric, and patriarchal oriented world history textbooks. Chris Brazier reveals the civilizations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The history of women (often neglected because most histories are written by men with a focus on wars and politics) is also brought to the reader's attention. Integrating these suppressed and ignored histories with more familiar narratives of imperial dynasties and superpower struggles, we are provided both context and historical outline. A highly recommended, slender paperback (144 pages), The No-Nonsense Guide To World History is a relatively quick read, and is enhanced with a seven page "Marking Time: Chronology" and a one page subject index.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, but...
Review: This book is a fantastic guideline to the history of humans on Earth. However, I was not pleased with how opinionated the author was at times, wasting entire pages on opinionated rants. Again, this book is a fantastic, just a warning to those (like myself) who prefer strong opinions stay in the editorial column if at all possible.

Rating:
Summary: Works for me
Review: This book is worth it's weight in gold, 'nuff said. I use it for My world history course as a secondary aid to the Barron's book. It's easy to read whenever, requires no special skills, and is small and easy to carry, unlike Barron's. What makes this book so great is that it offers facts in an easy to understand form, almost as if you're talking to a classmate who happens to be a lot smarter than you. With so many history books that are way to long and hard to read, it's refreshing to be able to have something to relate too.

Rating:
Summary: Works for me
Review: This book is worth it's weight in gold, 'nuff said. I use it for My world history course as a secondary aid to the Barron's book. It's easy to read whenever, requires no special skills, and is small and easy to carry, unlike Barron's. What makes this book so great is that it offers facts in an easy to understand form, almost as if you're talking to a classmate who happens to be a lot smarter than you. With so many history books that are way to long and hard to read, it's refreshing to be able to have something to relate too.