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.
Summary: From the first chapter: “History is a story, a story of things that happened to real live people in our England years ago; and the things that are happening here and now, and that are put in the newspapers, will be history for little children one of these days. And the people you read about in history were real live people, who were good and bad, and glad and sorry, just as people are now-a-days.”
E. Nesbit writes about some of the people behind the names, dates and battles of English History in this lovely book for older children. The original book contains some beautiful illustrations and you can see those by clicking the ‘Gutenberg’ link below. (Summary by Cori Samuel for Librivox)
Note: The original version of this book was published by Haaren and Poland in 1904, and is now in the public domain. There is another version which was edited by Rob and Cindy Shearer, and published by Greenleaf Press in 1992 and again in 2007. This newer version contains 5 additional chapters, written by Rob Shearer. The book that Mr. Shearer updated is not in the public domain, but it can be purchased from Greenleaf Press.
The five additional chapters in the newer version of this book are:
Chapter II Augustine of Hippo
Chapter IV Patrick of Ireland
Chapter IX Benedict and Gregory
Chapter XXII Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV
Chapter XXVI Francis and Dominic
If you’d like to listen to audio content that is available, as a replacement for these missing chapters, we suggest the following:
We are still looking for audio material to replace content from these other chapters. If we are able to locate suitable content, we’ll post the links here.
To hear this book, click play on the box below, or click on the chapter titles throughout this post.
Summary from Librivox:
Our Island Story was first published in 1905 and became an instant classic. Beginning with the Romans and following the triumphs and foibles of the good, not so good and the downright despicable figures of history; we are treated to a dazzling montage of kings, queens, barons, knights, explorers, movers and shakers that have played a key role in the history of England.
Marshall freely mixes folk tale with historical fact and in so doing paints a very vivid picture of the past in a style reminiscent of all that is finest in the children’s story-telling tradition. This is the second section of that work and will carry you from the convoluted and bloody Wars of the Roses up to the death of Queen Victoria and the resolution of the Boer War.
Please be advised that this book was written in the early years of the 20th century and there will be words and phrases used then, in all innocence, that are considered politically incorrect in this age. It’s perfectly fine for children to listen to but please ensure there is someone on hand who can explain these terms in a mature fashion.(Summary by Jim, for Librivox.org)
.jpg "King Alfred (The Great)")
100.jpg "Somosko Hungary, image by Uzo 19, licensed under GNU Free Documentation license")
