V. M. HillyerResenhas

One of the first history books I encountered, it was read to me as a child.

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audio version

This copy was my mother's Christmas present from her parents in 1934; she was 12 years old.

Update 11/09/08

I finished this book some time ago and I still love it, though I'll need to re-read it so I can remember things. As with any overview, the book decribes many events, and moves rather quickly, so by the time you finish one section, you're already 500 years later. I recommend taking notes while reading along, and I think it would make a great read aloud for homeschoolers .



I bought the first version of this book (I think 1911) on line and I LOVE IT. It is a great read. I wanted to have it as a sort of spine book for the kids history. It starts out w/evolution stuff, so we skip through that, but Hillyer gives a very entertaining, story like explanation of events, from the beginning to World War I or so. He gives little interesting tidbits about things, like how we got to call boarding houses and the expression 'room and board' (It came from the days of chivalry, when lords would eat in their castles, on large tables made of long boards hoisted up on supports; then they would take the boards down).. Now I never knew that! This book is loaded w/little facts like that.

I never paid attention in history class in elementary school; history was presented in text books, dry as dust and it was so b-o-r-i-n-g. This book is just the opposite. I only wish the nuns at catholic schools used this book. I might have remembered something! I highly recommend this book for all of you who day dreamed during history class and feel ignorant of past events. It gives a great overview. This is a fun read and enlightening.

When I was a child a friend of the family loaned me their childhood copy of this book. I believe it probably ended after WWII. This edition has been updated and edited.

It is still almost dangerously simplistic, not to mention very Euro/Christian-centric. Although as a child I didn't notice those things and it did spark my interest in history. It was interesting to go back and read as an adult.

Este libro da al niño una idea de lo que ha sucedido en el mundo, de los hechos más transcentales que ha sucedido antes de que el viniera a la vida.

Written to be read like a story-book. It reminds me of my 6th grade teacher's reading to us at Salk Elementary, in Anaheim, California, 1961-62, Mrs. Marion Sylvester Kacey. She read us Van Loon's History of the World; she also read a lot of other great books. She showed us slides from her trip to the Soviet Union during the time our U-2 pilot was being held there (even showed us a picture of the prison he was being kept at which she disguised in a "tourist" picture of a fountain or something). She took us seriously. She thought we were "citizens" and that we should know about the world. This book seems to be written with the idea in mind that American kids could not afford to grow up ignorant. Note the interesting date.

The black and white photographs are small, and some of the information is understandably dated, but the genial style of writing makes this a great reference and enjoyable read. It's more comprehensive in it's three short parts (art, sculpture and architecture) than many art history overviews I've encountered.

This book is composed of three parts which are painting, sculpture and architecture.