Ernst Gombrich, one of the prominent theorists of the twentieth century, achieved what even today seems incredible: to narrate the history of humanity, from the Stone Age to the age of nuclear energy, briefly, comprehensively, and convincingly. Confident in the curiosity of his young readers, as well as those who have remained young at heart, he brings to life with simple and vivid language the history of the world, the achievements of mankind, the transition from one historical period to another, the most important personalities and conflicts in such a way that the reader immediately grasps this long and complex journey.

The book was first published in Vienna in 1935. In 2001, after the author's death, this volume, which had been circulated in hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide and had already been translated into 21 languages, was reissued in a new edition, with corrections and additions by Gombrich himself, and with a foreword by his granddaughter, Leonie Gombrich, describing the writing process from the family's perspective.