"The Story of Mankind" by Hendrik Willem Van Loon is a history book published in 1921. Written for Van Loon's children, it traces Western civilization from primitive humans through the development of writing, art, and religion to the modern nation-state. Van Loon included only events he deemed essential to understanding civilization's trajectory. The book won the first-ever Newbery Medal in 1922, recognizing its outstanding contribution to children's literature. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
These books are free to read. Each is in the public domain in the United States; check your own country's rules before you copy or share one.
