Introduction: A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey
I am not a history buff. I do not particularly like history. But history has an important place because it helps us to put things in context. It helps us to better understand the innovative thinkers and inventors who have helped to shape our world. It helps us to understand why people did what they did, and the kind of world they were living in at the time. For the most part, I am not inspired to pick up a history book and read it from start to finish, the way I would for most other books.
Doing the research for, and writing the Wisdom of Life Profiles have opened up a new world for me, and I saw the world unfolding in front of my eyes and it’s quite a remarkable feeling. Through the eyes of the people I profile, I am steeped in history. For instance, I saw Roman Emperors through the eyes of Queen Boudica and Seneca. I saw World War II through the eyes of Sir Winston Churchill, what Russia was like during the Bolshevik Revolution through Ayn Rand and Sergei Rachmaninoff, the Revolutionary War through Thomas Jefferson, the American Civil Warthrough Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglas and many more.
I got to see what people like Susan B Anthony, Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and others did to shape our world. I also got to experience what service really means and what it feels like. I also got to experience women’s fight for their right to vote. The things we now take for granted, I saw how hard others fought so that we could have those rights – many gave their lives for their causes.
I travelled with Alexander the Great to Greece, Egypt, Persia, India, and I was there with him when he founded the great library in Alexandria and introduced Greek culture all over the ancient world as he conquered and created a vast empire. Through the eyes of the people I profile, I also see how power can corrupt in the wrong hands, creating despots and fanatics who oppress others forcing their will upon them.
What is A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey About?
Getting to that place has allowed me to read A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey, and not be bored because it helped me to round out some of the knowledge I acquired from preparing the Wisdom of Life Profiles. It was surprising to discover how much I had already learned. A Short History of the World is exactly that, a short history, so you will not learn about major events in depth by reading it, and the book stops at 1949, so you will not learn about important events after that year.
A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey is divided into two parts, the first is a brief history of the world and the second is a brief history of the United States. It’s a small-sized book, 240 pages in length. It’s divided into:
- Ancient History
- Medieval History
- Modern History
- History of the United States
And under each section, Dorey deals with many topics. For instance, under Modern History you’d find topics such as:
- The Age of Exploration and Discovery
- New Trends at the Beginning of the Modern Period
- Continental Europe from the Seventeenth to the Early Nineteenth Century
- The Early Modern Period in England
- Europe in the Nineteenth Century
- The First World War
- Effects of the First World War
- The Second World War
A Short History of the World serves a purpose because it touches on so many things, and if readers are interested in any of the events mentioned, they can further explore those topics. You’ll learn that the Phoenicians developed the true alphabet, which they partially derived from the Egyptian characters.
One of the greatest battles, Battle of the Marathon in 490 BC, in which the Persians invaded Greece, outnumbering them 10 to one, the Greek prevailed because they defended their homeland vigorously. The battle demonstrates what we can accomplish when we set our minds to it. “Pheidippides ran all the way to Athens to bring news of the victory. When he arrived he uttered one word “Victory,” and dropped dead. The Marathon race is named for this event.”
The Greek led the world in literature, building many theatres in the open. Many college stadiums today were modeled after that concept. The Greeks acted out plays such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. Homer wrote his epic poems The Iliad
and The Odyssey
around 800 BC, and Sappho and Pindar wrote lyric poetry. The great philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle emerged from Greece. The Greek fed their mind, but the Athenians and Spartans were also into physical exercise so they developed games to play, and the great Olympic contests was created.
Emperor Marcus Aurelius (164 – 180 AD) was one of the greatest rulers, and we enjoy his book, Meditations
today. Confucius and Lao-tse were two great Chinese leaders. China built the Great Wall of China to keep the raiders and conquerors out. A Short History of the World takes us into the world of the various Dynasties in China. The Arabs in the Middle Ages made significant contributions to mathematics, science, medicine and agriculture. The British invaded France and we have The Hundred Years' War which was going really bad for the French until Joan of Arc started to lead the French soldiers.
Dorey takes us quickly through history, and we see the birth of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Martin Luther’s reformation of the church; and the Quakers’ start in the United States. As payment for monies owed to him, William Penn, a Quaker accepted a tract of land west of the Delaware River that was in the “New World” in 1681. Penn wanted to leave England because Quakers were persecuted there. This tract of land is known as Pennsylvania for “Penn’s Woods” and he founded the city of Philadelphia. Penn later leased land to the south from the Swedes which became Delaware, and land to the east which became New Jersey.
We get a look at explorers like Christopher Columbus, John Cabot and others, discovering a “New World” that was already occupied by Native Americans. Columbus was looking for a route by sea to India and instead landed in the Americas, the “New World” in October 1492. Italian John Cabot (claimed by the English because he worked for firm in Bristol) set sail and landed in Halifax, thinking that he had reached China. He also discovered Newfoundland. In 1499, Amerigo Vespucci explored the coast of South America and Balboa investigated what we now call Central America.
President Jefferson purchased Louisiana from the French for $15 million in 1803, and nearly doubled the size of the US. And in 1819, President James Monroe purchased Florida from Spain for $5 million.
Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia in 1819. But Harvard College, the first institution of higher learning in the United States was founded nearly two centuries before in 1636, the College of William and Mary in 1693, and Yale College in 1701.
We also see the acts of despots like Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini and their tragic ends. There are many disturbing events in world history, but we have to take the bad with the good – that’s a part of the price we pay for progress. While reading A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey, I was reminded that this too shall pass. Nothing stays the same forever.
Final Thoughts: A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey
A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey is a great little book to help us understand where we are coming from, so I recommend it. It will be very difficult to get a new copy. I purchased a used copy for $2 from a sidewalk sale. I have written far more profiles than I posted because that was a part of my Summer Project. However, to complement this review, please refer to Boudica, Joan of Arc, Sappho, Charles Darwin, Geronimo’s Story of His Life.
Short Lessons in World History
A Short History of the WorldA Short History of the WorldA Short History of the WorldA Little History of the World (Little Histories)A Short History of the World (Penguin Classics)A Short History of Nearly EverythingThis Fleeting World: A Short History of Humanity (This World of Ours)
