1922 - The Story of Mankind

1922 was the first year the Newbery Medal was awarded, and it was given to The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik Willem van Loon.

I imagine that other people who try to read all of the Newberys in order get stuck here: this book is big. I chose the original, first edition, which is nearly 500 pages; the updated edition tops 600. It's also non-fiction, walking through, as the title implies, the completely history of mankind.

I've actually read this one before. My middle school librarian offered a challenge to the class one year, that anyone who could read The Story of Mankind would win a free book of their choosing. Being the book nerd I was, I jumped at the chance. I was the only one who actually attempted it, but a few weeks later, I had my book.

This time around, I was actually surprised at how quick of a read the book was, despite its size. There are numerous pictures, and with 64 chapters, there are frequent page breaks. This makes the book feel about a third of the size less than it really was.

The book starts with a foreward, which is a letter written to van Loon's grandchildren. In a way, it's a great introduction to the style of the book: it's a bit like your eccentric, history-buff grandpa telling you about everything that's ever happened. It's not written in academic prose, and isn't afraid to use words like "unwashed" and "savage", which wouldn't fly today. And it's a little outdated, especially in the early chapters about prehistoric man. But you accept it all, because it's so charmingly written.

With that said, for 1922, the book isn't all that inaccurate, and it doesn't have a Christian-centric or Western-centric viewpoint. The last chapter, which does a bit of looking forward, acknowledges that though we may have come a long way as a civilization, we have a long way to go, and will likely repeat the problems of the past, like all civilizations have (and he was right, since this was written between World War I and II).

So, this book is better than I remember it being ten years ago. I'm not sure what the updated versions are like - I think they've finally done some edits of the original book, instead of adding on chapters, like they had been doing through the middle of the century. As it is, it's a little out of date. But, if they can nail the style in the revisions, this would be a great book for an introduction to history for a kid.