Friends Setting The Stage
OK, I admit, I did cheat a little reading this latest library book, copyright 2014.
But that's because I've read it -- at least parts of it -- many times before. When Hendrik Willem van Loon originally wrote The Story of Mankind for his grandchildren in 1921, it receiving the first John Newbery Medal awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children was just icing on the cake! Of course, the first time I read the book (I think I was a sophomore in high school) I didn't know that, nor did I know that the original book only had sixty-five chapters.
1. Chapter Title: The Setting of the Stage
(Final Sentence: This creature, though you may hardly believe it, was your first "man-like" ancestor.)
to
65. After Seven Years
(And in the meantime we are fast learning one very important lesson -- that the future belongs to the living and that the dead ought to mind their own business.)
But it's an easy read, really it is, and I highly recommend it. And I know van Loon intended to update it but got busy on some other projects (which could be construed as a continuation of it -- for more on that, we really must sit down sometime over lunch) so his brother, if I'm reading the family relation right, Willem later updated it for the van Loon grandchildren "and Their Contemporaries" covering roughly from the end of World War I to, it almost looks like, when I was born.
66. The United States Comes of Age
(Whether it liked it or not, the United States had come of age.)
to
75. The Earth as a Global Village
(With courage and determination man will prevail.)
That's the first version of The Story of Mankind that I read. I knew there was a newer one, but all I remembered of it was the name "Jacobo Timerman" and I only remembered the name of that Argentinian man because it got drummed into me in a Latin American Politics class my senior year at Stetson. I'm not sure quite what the dividing line is between John Merriman and Robert Sullivan's updates, but it comes through that we may not know as much about history as we think we do.
76. Entering The High-Tech Age
(The more difficult the challenges mankind must face in the future, the more we must work together.)
to
90. Friends
(He might wonder why we are using GPS to figure out where we are when we might do better by looking up and looking around.)
The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon, updated and introduced by Robert Sullivan (ISBN 9780871407153) goes up through the development of Facebook, the Arab Spring movements, and reads -- let's be blunt -- more up to date than most history texts you read in school today. Seriously, if you have kids and want them to get them into understand what's going on today and why, this is the book for you! I'm especially in love with van Loon's writing style. You may notice.
After I picked up the kids last night from Grandma and Grandpa's I made from cheesy scalloped potatoes which filled Sarah and me up, for Jeffrey had already eaten. While I pumped gas before we got home, the kids washed our Chevy Lumina's windows at the pump, and they did a fine job. Had a light rain early this morning, today it's not as humid as it has been the last few days (I'm from Florida, I'm used to humidity but I don't miss it), and on day -2 to the State Fair ... I got this post done early!
I'm impressed, I'm very impressed.
David
But that's because I've read it -- at least parts of it -- many times before. When Hendrik Willem van Loon originally wrote The Story of Mankind for his grandchildren in 1921, it receiving the first John Newbery Medal awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children was just icing on the cake! Of course, the first time I read the book (I think I was a sophomore in high school) I didn't know that, nor did I know that the original book only had sixty-five chapters.
1. Chapter Title: The Setting of the Stage
(Final Sentence: This creature, though you may hardly believe it, was your first "man-like" ancestor.)
to
65. After Seven Years
(And in the meantime we are fast learning one very important lesson -- that the future belongs to the living and that the dead ought to mind their own business.)
But it's an easy read, really it is, and I highly recommend it. And I know van Loon intended to update it but got busy on some other projects (which could be construed as a continuation of it -- for more on that, we really must sit down sometime over lunch) so his brother, if I'm reading the family relation right, Willem later updated it for the van Loon grandchildren "and Their Contemporaries" covering roughly from the end of World War I to, it almost looks like, when I was born.
66. The United States Comes of Age
(Whether it liked it or not, the United States had come of age.)
to
75. The Earth as a Global Village
(With courage and determination man will prevail.)
That's the first version of The Story of Mankind that I read. I knew there was a newer one, but all I remembered of it was the name "Jacobo Timerman" and I only remembered the name of that Argentinian man because it got drummed into me in a Latin American Politics class my senior year at Stetson. I'm not sure quite what the dividing line is between John Merriman and Robert Sullivan's updates, but it comes through that we may not know as much about history as we think we do.
76. Entering The High-Tech Age
(The more difficult the challenges mankind must face in the future, the more we must work together.)
to
90. Friends
(He might wonder why we are using GPS to figure out where we are when we might do better by looking up and looking around.)
The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon, updated and introduced by Robert Sullivan (ISBN 9780871407153) goes up through the development of Facebook, the Arab Spring movements, and reads -- let's be blunt -- more up to date than most history texts you read in school today. Seriously, if you have kids and want them to get them into understand what's going on today and why, this is the book for you! I'm especially in love with van Loon's writing style. You may notice.
After I picked up the kids last night from Grandma and Grandpa's I made from cheesy scalloped potatoes which filled Sarah and me up, for Jeffrey had already eaten. While I pumped gas before we got home, the kids washed our Chevy Lumina's windows at the pump, and they did a fine job. Had a light rain early this morning, today it's not as humid as it has been the last few days (I'm from Florida, I'm used to humidity but I don't miss it), and on day -2 to the State Fair ... I got this post done early!
I'm impressed, I'm very impressed.
David
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