A People's History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millennium Paperback – May 2, 2017

When I learned in school about the rise and fall of Rome (or Egypt, or the British Empire, or any so-called civilization), there was never a credible explanation for these drastic shifts in fortunes. The history that I learned was a disconnected series of dates and nations, kings and wars. The accompanying upheavals, the extremes of wealth and poverty and suffering, the real conditions of the masses of people were glossed over as mere incidentals. This book has given meaning and understanding to the entire breadth of human history, the changes in the conditions of humanity brought on by everything from stone tools, iron, or agriculture, to money, capitalism, and industry. It highlights the strivings of people from all cultures to better their lives, and to seek justice in the face of tyranny and oppression, ingredients necessitated by disparities in material wealth. The book gives context and meaning to the dates, nations, and wars that were the bare bones of my education.If there were moments of oversimplification, they're no doubt the result of the effort to cover so much in one book, and to compensate for the deficiencies of our mainstream education. Highly recommended to anyone wanting to understand how we got where we are today.

Harman describes how the Agricultural Revolution enhanced people's adaptive capabilities but at a price. It introduced bureaucracy, a necessary innovation to deal with complexities introduced by the division of labor in society. Tribal connectivity gave way to management and ultimately to elitism. The history of empires, of feudalism in Europe, and finally the development of modern global society reflect the poisonous effects of pragmatism at the expense of community solidarity. Harman shows us how a thin thread, however, growing gradually more substantial since the Middle Ages, and significantly so during the French Revolution, testifies to humans' stumbling drive to reverse this anomaly. He provides, therefore, a useful focus for activism in our age. Less upon accomplishing specific political goals than upon learning how to build complex community, including needed bureaucracy, without sacrificing the core survival attribute of our species: our drive to connect. Elites inevitably seek to disrupt this drive, but so do our own individual tendencies to sacrifice happiness for short term gains. In the Marxist tradition, Harman calls upon his readers consciously to come to terms with our own irrationality, and consciously to reject elitism in order to promote our own survival. What makes us happy is indeed most adaptive.

I liked this book a lot. He handles a huge mass of data quite well. Only one thing bothers me. At times he fails to identify the time frame clearly.He might cite a date early in a section and pages later he's moved ahead several years or even more and you don't know the time has changed. He leaps from topic to topic without always providing clear transitions. And the abbreviations are also hard to identify if one isn't already a well-versed historian. You can decipher them using other sources but not always easily. But all in all this is a great book that overcomes many challenges.

I have only read the first chapter so far, and already I can tell this book is incredably based. If you want to understand why our world is the way it is today, then this is a must read.

A truly fantastic book which tells history from the perspective of the vast majority of those who lived it. If history was taught, as this book does, in a way which shows how the decisions of the elites effected the masses, we would all have a greater understanding of human history, sociology, and psychology. (It is time for schools to stop being useless knowledge factories, and to start teaching an engaging form of history that students can actually relate to: a history of the people.) The book also provides an anthropological study of pre-capitalist humans who lived in democratic societies without knowledge of possession or class, proving that human nature is malleable. We do not have have a desire built into our DNA to oppress those around us. Human greed is a product of our current insidious social environment which twists human nature to reflect societal demands for profit.I applaud you, Christopher Hartman, for taking the time necessary to create an accurate historical account of the forgotten masses who have experienced oppression and privation, for the benefit of the few elites. I find your analysis of historical facts to be spot on. Your book, and the uprisings in Northern Africa, give me hope that humanity will not be forever doomed to the ubiquitous barbarism concomitant to the rise of capitalism.

Fascinating view of history from a social perspective. I had not read one like this before. I was wary of this book because so many of the reviews pointed out a Marxist, Socialist or Communist bent. While the author was a strong proponent of political systems to which I feel no affinity, I did not feel the book was propaganda. It was interesting to think of the evolution of class; the impact of slavery; and the plight of the common man throughout history. All of my prior engagement with history, whether through formal study or in private exploration, has been framed in the same way: the purview of monarchs, tyrants, elected rulers, inventors and accomplished artisans. This is a thought-provoking work...but I promise you won't feel the tug of commanism. Enjoy comrade...uh, dear reader.