This extraordinary work, which has become a classic of its time, recounts 'the great adventure of mankind. H. G. Wells tells the story of the entire history of our planet, from the beginnings of the Earth to the end of the First World War, a seemingly daunting feat, but one which his storytelling and journalistic skills transform into a work that is not only accessible, but readable, radical and funny. Wells's liberal world-view and profound concern with the importance of ideas in history - political, religious, philosophical and technological - gives A Short History of the World an urgency and vigour that makes it as fresh today as when it was first published in 1922.