World History: Human Odyssey

I actually get into this textbook. I have never had a great interest in history in general, but this has woke up the latent historian in me. Even as a text, I find it easy to read and interesting.

Jackson J. Spielvogel wrote two textbooks on pretty much the same subject, one being this, the other being the more honestly titled Western Civilization. Almost every word in this book can also be found in Western Civilization. The difference is that Western Civilization is intended for college classes, and as such includes stuff that couldn't get past the people in charge of approving stuff for high school classes. I'm not just talking about disgusting things, mind you--I'm also talking about historical events that certain groups would rather not remember happened. (I know, it sounds all conspiracy-theory, but compare the two books and try telling me I'm crazy.) The bottom line is, read Western Civilization if you can, but if your parents watch your reading, read this instead of nothing. It's still really good.

This is the textbook out of which I am currently studying in high school, and it is truly tremendous. It covers the journey of the human race from the tentative study of prehistory to the end of the twentieth century. It is professionally written, illustrated with wonderful photographs and other images of art and literature throughout history, filled with fascinating asides with first-hand records of ancient to recent times, and topped off with a wonderful glossary and index, including a Spanish-language glossary. I would strongly recommend this text for teachers and students. My only minor qualm: there is no bold print in the index to indicate when a world or individual was first mentioned or defined.

This book is written in a very engaging manner by a pair who clearly love history and know what they're talking about. They cover the most important material, with quite a bit of detail, but it's not overwhelming. The book is well laid out visually, making it easy to read. The source material they include is fascinating. This is the best world history textbook I've found. I would recommend it to students from high school through college, or to anyone wanting to learn history for pleasure.

This book always has what i need for projects, essays, and additional information for my World Studies 1 class. This book is also interesting to read even without having an assignment to do. Every History class should have at least one of these books because they are great and can be used for millions of different uses.