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A People's History of the World

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 325 ratings · 46 reviews

Chris Harman describes the shape and course of human history as a narrative of ordinary people forming and re-forming complex societies in pursuit of common human goals. Interacting with the forces of technological change as well as the impact of powerful individuals and revolutionary ideas, these societies have engendered events familiar to every schoolchild - from the em...more

Paperback, 752 pages

Published November 10th 1999 by Bookmarks (first published 1999)

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Mar 06, 2012 Bettie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: published-1999, nonfiction, fraudio, winter-20112012, history, dip-in-now-and-again

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After the speculative future of 'The Year of the Flood', I have opted for a version of the past. This is neither a 3M read nor a TBR busting exercise.

Read by ATT voice, which may come to grate. The only comprehensive 'bottom up' history of the world from the earliest human society to the twenty-first century. As mzd says: I think it would be unwise to ignore this book purely on the basis of not sharing its Marxist leanings

blurb - Chris Harman describes the shape and course of human history as a...more

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May 17, 2008 James Tracy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great introduction to the history of the world. Tries to fit most events into a Marxist context, explaining how the development of the "means of production" changed the course of the world at almost every juncture. A pretty good book to turn to if you are trying to place anchor some of these big ideas in actual history.

One of the strengths of the book is that while it is heavy on "dialectical materialism" the author readily points out when other, non-economic forces were also in play. He also is...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, politics

It is almost impossible to review a book with such an unrivalled scope as this. Chris Harman present a history of the world, a social history documenting the struggles of people the world over from 3000BC right through to the new millennium. It is a beautiful and admirable volume, packed with interesting facts about the inherent fairness of humanity and our desire to work together to create a better society. It is genuinely a world history too, rather than focusing narrowly on Europe or our west...more It is almost impossible to review a book with such an unrivalled scope as this. Chris Harman present a history of the world, a social history documenting the struggles of people the world over from 3000BC right through to the new millennium. It is a beautiful and admirable volume, packed with interesting facts about the inherent fairness of humanity and our desire to work together to create a better society. It is genuinely a world history too, rather than focusing narrowly on Europe or our western philosophies and developments we are given ample insight in to the Chinese empires and African pre-Christian societies. In our present western and so called developed nations we have come to accept selfishness and greed as the norm, this has only been the case for around 2% of our time on Earth. Prior to this, hunter-gatherer societies worked in an egalitarian manner to succeed. Indeed, were they to have followed the example of modernity humans would probably have been wiped out before we were even the minimal blot on history that we now are. Once our societies started to develop a constant theme emerges that of the battle between the rich and the poor that is still being waged today, and it is a theme that has a monotonous, hollow ring to it. People rise up to claim what is rightfully theirs, have a minor success and then the ruling class uses all manner of tools at its disposal to put people right back where they belong; under the boot of elite hegemony. As the book approaches the industrial revolution, more time and space is devoted to the spread of capitalism and the changes this brought about for peasants and working people across the globe. It is in these chapters that Harman is most at home discussing the economical impact of the new financial structures put in place by the East India Company and their ilk on societies. This is no simple broadside against capitalism though, Communism, or Joseph Stalin’s version of it gets even harsher treatment along with his satraps across Europe who could have stopped fascism in the form of the Nazi’s in its infancy, but chose not to because of the craven misgivings of old uncle Joe. There is plenty here to prove why Marx is still an absolute essential for anyone wanting to understand the world, and Marx as prophet for the world today. The world wars get extensive coverage as you would expect we well as the French and American revolutions. The chapter on the French revolution in particular does a good job of separating myth from reality and rescuing certain people from their own present day parodies. Slavery is always there hovering in the background across the centuries, rearing its ugly head time and again in different societies from the Greeks to the Americans. There is a wonderful further reading chapter at the end which provides access to a thorough range of extensive materials on the periods most written about. All in all this is a treasure trove of a book, worthy of anyone’s reference shelf and would be a superb introduction to global history in a single volume. (less)

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Jul 30, 2011 William West added it · review of another edition

I was inspired to read this book by the revelation of just how ignorant I was of world history pre-1895 (blame it on the cinematic foundations of my education). I was also intrigued with it following my recent reading of Zinn's history of the American people. And I must say, it proved a priceless source of information. I had, however, a lot of problems with the book, despite its undeniably splendid passages.

For one thing, the very ambition of the project gives way to certain ludicrousies. How i...more

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Feb 25, 2009 Marci rated it 2 of 5 stars

We didn't manage to get very far in my so-called World History class in ninth grade, like somehow we didn't get to Asia, or out of the medieval period. Like Howard Zinn's "People's History," I suspect that this tome is meant for people like me, who disenchanted by the long list of battles and kings they were forced to memorize by name in school, never developed a strong interest in what is called history. At least, that's why I picked up this book. Unlike Zinn's "People's History" though, this o...more We didn't manage to get very far in my so-called World History class in ninth grade, like somehow we didn't get to Asia, or out of the medieval period. Like Howard Zinn's "People's History," I suspect that this tome is meant for people like me, who disenchanted by the long list of battles and kings they were forced to memorize by name in school, never developed a strong interest in what is called history. At least, that's why I picked up this book. Unlike Zinn's "People's History" though, this one got hung up on its own special interests.

Chris Hartman is a socialist which will necessarily impact but I didn't realize would intrude on his account of world history. The welcome impact of his political stance came from his careful analysis of the consequences of historical events on the lives of the general populace. The early chapters of "People's History," for example, provide a decent explanation for the establishment of class hierarchies as a response to the development of agriculture. Hartman also provides a cogent argument for the link between a healthy bourgesoise and both economic productivity and democracy, drawing heavily from Marx, one that I think every member of a 21rst century industrial economy should understand. His discussion of the post-communist societies of Russia and China (which he gives a lot of attention to, of course) is also extremely valuable.

Still, the focus of the narrative overall remained on what the big names were doing. Possibly, this is a reflection of the evidence available, but, if so, Hartman owed his readers an explanation. The book was also heavily weighted towards the usual areas of interest to Westerners, excluding much discussion at all of Africa and of many areas of Latin America and Asia outside of the colonial period. Post-enlightenment the book became weighted down with the names of labour and strike leaders while discussion of their impact was almost absent, as if its author made the assumption that his audience already understood. (less)

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Mar 31, 2013 Omar El shafei rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a unique book. A comprehensive history of humanity from the standpoint of the oppressed and exploited, not as victims but as heroes of revolutionary struggles with emancipatory potential. The book is much more than "history from below" though. It is also a refined application of the Marxist approach to history, setting the unfolding of events in the context of the interaction of humans with nature and among themselves as people make their own histories in conditions inherited from past d...more

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Jul 26, 2011 H Wesselius rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent book which gives you a fresh respective on world events. Weak on pre-history, the author is at his best discussing the class and labour fraemwork of a civilization and its influence on the rise and fall of said civilization. His explanation for the failure of some revolutions over others relies on analysis of class interests of the groups involved and notes how interests in the established order generally lead to a still born revolution. He takes a serious and honest look at the failur...more

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Jul 22, 2011 Jayme marked it as to-read-non-fiction

From The Independent's Ten Best History Books.

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Feb 03, 2013 Keegan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

So I glanced at reviews and am already not surprised to find out that he is looking at this from a Marxist perspective (just from reading the introduction "BEFORE CLASS"). Anyway, I know so little about most of history that I figure anything I read will be new and educational, so it's okay that it has obvious bias (though it's nice to know up front). I will probably take some notes here on what I manage to read because I have no memory.

1.) Introduction: "Before Class" -- Summary -- people haven'...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, politics

A good read, but repetitive in places (I guess because it is trying to show history as a cycle of class struggles) and of course as it covers such a great breadth of human history it sacrifices some depth.

Nonetheless an excellent and very educational read, I would challenge anyone to read it and not learn a lot if purely because of the breadth of the material.

Some of the conclusion is eerily prescient where he warns of possible future conflicts and nationalist tensions in the next (apparently in...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Nadavshs12 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, classic, qr-2011-2012

This book was absolutely amazing. There are no other words to describe this amazing source of literature. The novel starts from the stone age and the development of civilization and then spirals its way up time all the way to the year 2,000 c.e. I found this book not only interesting historically (because I am history obsessed) but also just plain, old smart. The title explains it all, the novel carries one through history not in the old fashioned textbook way, but through the eyes of the people...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Anthony rated it 4 of 5 stars

Where to begin with such a broad and all encompassing topic as the history of humanity?

According to Harman “History is the sequence of events that led to the lives we lead today. It is the story of how we came to be ourselves. Understanding it is the key to finding out how we can further change the world in which we live.” The understanding that Harman’s all encompassing work portrays is not the worn academic path cataloging great leaders, thinkers, and innovators but a narrative that depicts th...more Where to begin with such a broad and all encompassing topic as the history of humanity?

According to Harman “History is the sequence of events that led to the lives we lead today. It is the story of how we came to be ourselves. Understanding it is the key to finding out how we can further change the world in which we live.” The understanding that Harman’s all encompassing work portrays is not the worn academic path cataloging great leaders, thinkers, and innovators but a narrative that depicts the broad cultural and societal movements of human history. In so doing his work questions the paradigm that “human beings, we are told, have always been greedy, competitive and aggressive, and that explains horrors like war, exploitation, slavery, and the oppression of woman,” and Harman presents the theory that “Human nature as we know it today is a product of our history, not its cause.”

Beginning at the beginning Harman aptly illustrates the development of civilization alongside the onset of agriculture that required a division of labor – this was a stark contrast to the majority of human prehistory that encompassed an idyllic shared communalism only witnessed today in scantly scattered Amazonian tribes. Harman argues that the development of labor divisions required a new perspective of human relationship that we take for granted in our times but was not natural to humans at the time. This pattern of learning new relationships along with the social norms of bigotry and classism has persisted throughout human history as new innovations from the collection of people’s into urban cities all the way up to the present interconnectedness of electronic communication. The story of human history is a conflicted tale full of glory and brutality, conquest and suffering, progress and decline. These facts are not argued, however the meaning within these facts are questioned when the faced with the paradigm that one man must be lesser or greater than another.

I need not provide historical examples to illustrate these arguments, I’ll let your reading of A People’s History of the World lead you to your own evaluation of Harman’s argument. However I will say that the recent uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, and even the political/labor clashes in Wisconsin have lead me to question the path of history and what these recent uprisings meant within the larger perspective. I was drawn to Harman’s book to seek answers to these broad questions and although Harman’s book ends with the 1990′s (I was a little disappointed that 2008 reprinted version I bought was not updated to discuss the last decade), having read this work I appreciate that these recent uprisings, as well as the Iraq and Afghanistan war, are entirely predictable and a result not only of the past 60 years of cold war influences on the middle East regimes, but the result of a much older influence from European imperialism that arose from the collapsed Ottoman Empire. The people’s revolutions currently occurring in the Middle East have occurred throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia in the past two centuries and will continue to occur in nations throughout this globe in the century to come. The question that remains is what will come of these uprisings? Will the dominant world powers continue to promote new governments or internal legislation that supports the continued dominance of US and European power that runs the risk of only repeating the patter resulting in further barbarism – or will these revolutions take a decisive step towards a governance that promotes the interests of the people governed?

History – and humanity’s investment in it – will tell.(less)

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Mar 07, 2012 Greg Linster rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: marxism

I was assigned sections of this historical tome for my graduate level course in European Economic History. At the time, I had a yearning to read an overview of world history and decided to tackle the whole book.

Anyway, the book offers a coherent world history from the Marxist perspective. I am, however, weary of the focus to put human history into some overarching and coherent narrative. I learned quite a bit from this book, despite largely disagreeing with certain parts of it.

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Aug 16, 2010 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars

When I was in school I feel I was taught the world history of Western "civilization". It was the history of wars, imperialism and capitalism as perceived through the eyes of European and American history writers. This book does include the history of African, Middle Eastern, Asian, Oriental and island nations. I liked what I learned about other parts of the world that were largely ignored in my education.
If I was given a capitalist/imperialist account of history, this book was a socialist histor...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Marcy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is phenomenal. I could not put it down. It definitely doesn't follow Howard Zinn's methodology of using ordinary people's views of historical events, but it certainly does give a sense of how ordinary people are affected by historical change. The text is exciting to read and gives one an expansive view of history. While a western perspective definitely dominates the text, ultimately it is a book that illustrates how events in one part of the world affect events in other parts of the wo...more

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May 14, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

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Oct 06, 2010 Molly is currently reading it

Shelves: politically-relevant

I'm only just entering Civilization, but so far there've been a lot of uncomfortably unjustified assumptions about neolithic society. There's an awfully big difference between, for instance, "there is no evidence for class divisions within neolithic societies" and "there were no class divisions within neolithic societies", and Harman goes with the latter type of description in much of his narrative.

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Aug 28, 2012 Aubrey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, labour

Excellent introduction to world history from a Marxist perspective. Presented similarly to Zinn's "People's History of U.S." focusing of the ordinary people who build our societies and the material conditions which shape it/us. And you know what? I liked the short length of the chapters, because even though I love reading history, I can get bogged down by the immensity of it. Great book!

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Jan 27, 2011 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: minor, history

It's everything that you think it would be -- Zinn + The World. The prehistoric part is pretty naive and more than half of the book is dedicated to the industrial revolution forward. He's projecting Marxism onto a lot of societies where it's a very ill fit. He designed the book to be a textbook, but it's too reactionary to be a textbook -- he's assumed that the reader has this greater body of knowledge that (s)he might not have (especially if he or she is an undergrad).

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Feb 27, 2011 Stan rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Marxist analysis of the entire history of the world, Get's a little polemical around the late 1800s then turns into an apology piece in the 20th Century. Like the Marxist view of history, interesting and highly valuable but somewhat lacking in imagination and cross-application. No room for great actors or happenstance just class, class, class.

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May 22, 2012 Sydney rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: required-reading, srs-bizniz, loathed, made-me-cry

I had to read parts of this book throughout the year for AP World History.

After I finished it, I BURNED IT. HA!

Don't take AP World History, kids.

Oh, and I put this on my 'Made Me Cry' shelf because it did, but not in a good way. I failed multiple quizzes due to my inability to absorb a single block of word vomit.

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Jun 04, 2010 James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Pretty good and through history of human existance. It's very obvious that the author is a marxist, and later he reveils himself to be a leninist-trotskyst too, but don't let that stop you from reading it. He sets up a great critique and class analysis of history.

I wish he'd spent a little more talking about Africa, Asia, and pre-columbian north american, and a little less time talking about europe, though.

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Mar 26, 2011 Michael Harry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

One of the best history books I've read. You get more of a sense of the continuing patterns human societies fall into and the mistakes communities can make.

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Apr 15, 2009 Alex rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: capitalism, history

i remember this being excessively dogmatic in approaching "world" history from a Marxist-Leninist (Trotskyist) perspective. far too Euro-centric

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May 30, 2011 Tina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Read Zinn? Sorry you went to sleep in that college world history survey class? Try this one. An excellent materialist whirlwind tour.

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Aug 01, 2011 Jon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

interesting look at history through a marxist monocle, if you like history, and monocles, then this book is good

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Aug 08, 2011 Frej rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Cleared out a lot for me. I especially liked the first parts on how and why class societies raised up in the first place, and the history of christianity and islam. I've never read clear materialistic explanations on these things before. Plus, most of all, it was very useful to get a much better sense of the motions of histoy.

The minus is because I expected it to be more focus on the daily lives of ordinary people, and maybe a bit more philosophical. But I guess there are other books for that. T...more

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May 23, 2009 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

With some flaws, but not a bad introduction to history from a different prespective.

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Jan 18, 2009 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

good read for all major events in world history..

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Feb 11, 2013 Paschalia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

Τέλειο, must-read για τους πάντες

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About Chris Harman

British journalist and political activist for the Socialist Workers Party.

Harmann was involved with activism against the Viet Nam war but became controversial for denouncing Ho Chi Minh for murdering the leader of the Vietnamese Trotskists.

Harman's work on May 1968 in France and other student and workers uprisings of the late 1960s, The Fire Last Time, was recommended by rock band Rage Against th...more

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