"How do you tell the story of Mankind?" asks David Fromkin near the beginning of this relatively slim volume. If you are a reader or teacher or lover of history, you know the answer to that question is: a multitude of ways. One can start in the present and work backwards; start with written history and work forward; one can begin in pre-history with the creation of the universe. Or, one can concentrate on a single aspect of human history and explore its many facets in a chronological manner. This is what Fromkin does. He examines eight "turning points in history and look[s] at where they have led, and where they will lead in the future if we continue on the same path."

The benefit of this type of narration, writes Fromkin, is that "the turns in the life of the human race form a story that can be outlined in no more time that it takes to tell a tale, as a shaman would, around an evening campfire.

Just what are those turning points? Essentially, notes Fromkin, "the high drama of battle and politics." He has singled out eight "giant steps" which have "moved the human race along the course of its life thus far: those that moved it in the direction of the scientific revolution in which we are caught up now." Specifically, the steps are: becoming human, inventing civilization, developing a conscience, seeking a last peace, achieving rationality, uniting the planet, releasing nature's energies, and ruling ourselves.

The turning points serve as chapter titles. In the first two chapters ("Becoming Human," and "Becoming Civilized"), Fromkin traces an evolutionary path from the African forests to the rise of civilization in ancient Mesopotamia.

Chapter 3, "Developing a Conscience," explores a historical mystery. Prior to about 400-600 B.C. deities were not moral entities. (Just think of the Greek gods with their vengeful passions, human-like foibles, and raging temper tantrums.) After this time, religions with a moral purpose can be found—one of the first being Hinduism. Interestingly, notes Fromkin, in the middle of the first millennium B.C., "quite suddenly and all at the same time, charismatic leaders coming from different and unconnected parts of Eurasia, but offering in each case some sort of moral vision, made their entrance on the world stage." Fromkin calls it one of "the most puzzling coincidences in history."

In "Seeking a Lasting Peace," Fromkin deals succinctly with ancient Greek and Roman culture. Herein he tells about Constantine's conversion to Christianity. "Eventually," writes Fromkin, "the empire's subjects followed suit, and in the end Christianity became Rome 's state religion. Rarely has a change in one person's convictions had such dramatic consequences for so many people over so wide an area."

"Achieving Rationality, chapter five, thoughtfully lays the foundation for understanding the modern world (which is dealt with in the remaining three chapters). The next chapter, "Uniting the Planet" is a fascinating, whirlwind discussion of how Europe managed to take control of virtually the entire world through exploration, conquest, and settlement.

In "Ruling Ourselves," Fromkin examines the history's great documents, great wars, and great powers. By the end of the 20th century, the United States, thanks in part to its union with modernization, had come out on top. As he closes this chapter, Fromkin muses about what visitors from the ancient world would think if they were able to view the modern westerner as the second millennium came to a close. "Would they," he writes, "recognize that all of these marvelous achievements are closely associated with the modernizing revolution that still continues on its headlong course?" Further, "would they sense that winning such prizes as freedom, wealth, and power might prove dangerous? They might well; for it was the ancients, the Greeks of antiquity, who taught us to fear the goddess they called Nemesis: a daughter of Night who envies good fortune and exacts retribution for it."

What is going to happen next? This is the central question that Fromkin examines in the last section of the book, titled "Future." "If we are to use the past and the present as our basis for guessing what lies ahead, then we have to say that in the next century and perhaps even the next millennium, people will continue to live with conflicts and contradictions, and are unlikely to resolve them all." It would be difficult to argue with that after 9/11. However, Fromkin also notes that along the timeline of the past as we understand it, human history is a mere blip, taking up only the tiniest fraction of space. None of the eight turning points of which he writes so eloquently is an "irrevocable move or a final stopping point . . ." "Becoming human is a process that may be continuing. Or it may be coming undone: humanity may be on the road to becoming something else---and not necessarily something of which we would approve."

The book, like any riveting tale, is filled with interesting tidbits of knowledge. Did you know, for instance, that somewhere on the Mediterranean coast in the 17 th century B.C., a single individual or group of individuals invented a system of writing using only twenty to thirty symbols (consonants only). The Greeks came along, adapted and improved upon the system, adding vowels. From the first two Greek letters of the invention, A (alpha) and B (beta), comes a most wondrous invention: the alphabet! Human history could now be preserved in a way other than holding it in memory.

As Fromkin notes in the first chapter, "Telling one story necessarily means not telling another." If you are looking for a thorough rendering with lots of details, this is not the book for you. If, however, you are interested in a wonderfully concise, deftly told tale of the story of humankind, this is it.

I will admit when I bought this book I had my doubts. How could one, no matter how gifted a writer, tell the history of humankind in a matter of a mere 222 pages without it sounding like a college freshman World Civ. syllabus? Indeed, at one point in the book Fromkin notes that, "Outlines of history drawn in order to simplify run the risk of oversimplifying." As educators we certainly know the truth of that statement. So, does he pull it off? The answer is a resounding yes. How? In short, because Fromkin has all the makings of a master storyteller. His style of communication is at once both elegant and compelling. And he holds within him a depth and breadth of knowledge about his subject that allows him to know what is best included and what is best left out. That, storytellers will inform you, is one of the ancient secrets of telling a supremely satisfying tale.

Suitable for district-wide purchase. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by the Education Oasis Staff