History: The Really Interesting Bits

This is world history as cinema trailer: thirteen epoch making events, from the Ancient Egyptians to the Second World War, each presented on a double page spread, either as a map or three or four linear strips, with the emphasis on war, conquest and revolution (but all relevant to the National Curricula!). As you would expect from Dorling Kindersley, the text, as far as it goes, is accurate and the design is clear, colourful and enticing; although to follow the Hundred Years War on a map of France you must disregard the usual rules of reading from top to bottom and right to left. The maps are an interesting way of examining a subject but the book as a whole is more of an appetite whetting gift than a library or school text and would be misleading without the support of other information. At the risk of it being a little less 'interesting', it would have been good to have at least some aspects of history that were less bloody.