The Story of Mankind by Hendrik van Loon

story_mankind_1003

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Summary: Relates the story of western civilization from earliest times through the beginning of the twentieth century, with special emphasis on the people and events that changed the course of history. Portrays in vivid prose the achievements of mankind in the areas of art and discovery, as well as the political forces leading to the modern nation-states. Richly illustrated with drawings by the author. Winner of the first Newbery Award in 1922, The Story of Mankind has introduced generations of children to the pageant of world history. (Summary from mainlesson.com)

Running time:  13 hours

Note to parent:  I am including this book on My Audio School, as it is used by Ambleside Online curriculum.  They recommend it for older children (middle school through high school).

My Audio School is being used by so many children whose families hold varying perspectives on creation and evolution.  I have not provided links for the first 3 chapters of this book, (30 minutes of material), which are full of evolutionary content.  Should you need to refer to these chapters, you can use the links provided above for reading or downloading this book at its Internet Archive page in its entirety.  I have not pre-read the majority of this book, but found evolutionary references in the two additional chapters that I listened to (The Age of Science and The New World).  Please be aware there may be evolutionary content in other chapters, as well.  Should you have further questions about the suitability of this book please read this review from Cathy Duffy.

04 Hieroglyphics

05 The Nile Valley

06 The Story of Egypt

07 Mesopotamia

08 The Sumerians

09 Moses

10 The Phoenicians

11 The Indo-Europeans

12 The Aegean Sea

13 The Greeks

14 The Greek Cities

15 Greek Self-Government

16 Greek Life

17 The Greek Theatre

18 The Persian Wars

19 Athens vs. Sparta

20 Alexander the Great

21 A Summary

22 Rome and Carthage

23 The Rise of Rome

24 The Roman Empire

25 Joshua of Nazareth

26 The Fall of Rome

27 Rise of the Church

28 Mohammed

29 Charlemagne

30 The Norsemen

31 Feudalism

32 Chivalry

33 Pope vs. Emperor

34 The Crusades

35 The Medieval City

36 Medieval Self-Government

37 The Medieval World

38 Medieval Trade

39 The Renaissance

40 The Age of Expression

41 The Great Discoveries

42 Buddha and Confucius

43 The Reformation

44 Religious Warfare

45 The English Revolution

46 The Balance of Power

47 The Rise of Russia

48 Russia vs Sweden

49 The Rise of Prussia

50 The Mercantile System

51 The American Revolution

52 The French Revolution

53 Napoleon

54 The Holy Alliance

55 The Great Reaction

56 National Independence

57 The Age of the Engine

58 The Social Revolution

59 Emancipation

60 The Age of Science

61 Art

62 Colonial Expansion and War

63 A New World

64 As It Shall Ever Be

The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge

Burning of Rome by Robert Hubert

Download as a zipped file

Internet archive page

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To read this book online, click here.

Click here to view downloadable curriculum from CurrClick which could be used for a study of the Middle Ages. This link will take you away from My Audio School.

To listen, click play in the box below or click on the chapter titles.

Total running time: 5 hours, 22 minutes
DNW Pompeii waterway with stepping stones, public domain image

01 – The Roman World

02 – A Great World Power

03 – Voyage and Shipwreck

04 – The Tragedy of Nero

05 – The Great Fire in Rome

06 – The Destruction of Pompeii

07 – Marcus Aurelius

Rome, Franz Theodor Aerni

08 – Decline of the Roman Empire

09 – Christians to the Lions

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer by Gerome

10 – A New Rome

11 – The Armies of the North

12 – The Dark Ages

13 – King Arthur and His Knights

Boys King Arthur, N.C. Wyeth, p246

14 – The Hero of Two Nations

15 – The Hardy Northmen

16 – How the Northmen Conquered England

17 – A Spanish Hero

18 – The First Crusade

Crusaders, Bosphorus, first crusade

19 – Frederick Barbarossa

20 – The Third Crusade

21 – The Days of Chivalry

22 – Queen of the Adratic

23 – The Story of Marco Polo

24 – Dante’s Great Poem

25 – The Maid of Orleans

Joan of arc interrogation

26 – The Sea of Darkness

27 – Prince Henry, the Sailor

28 – A Famous Voyage

29 – The Invention of Printing

engraving of a printer using the Gutenberg press, c. 15th century

30 – The Stormy Cape

31 – Vasco Da Gama’s Great Voyage

32 – India at Last

33 – The New Trade-Route

34 – Golden Goa

The Landing of Columbus by Bierstadt

35 – Christopher Columbus

36 – The Last of the Moors

37 – Discovery of the New World

38 – The West Indies

39 – Columbus in Chains

40 – A Great Mistake

41 – Follow the Leader

42 – Discovery of the Pacific

43 – Magellan’s Great Plan

First map of the straits of Magellan, by Antonio Pigafetta, 1520

44 – Magellan’s Straits

45 – Round the World

46 – The Finding of Mexico

The Meeting of Cortés and Montezuma

47 – Montezuma

48 – Siege and Fall of Mexico

49 – Conquest of Peru

50 – A Great Awakening