THE NEW HISTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 246, 14 October 1908, Page 9

THE NEW HISTORY.

Readers will he interested in the announcement that "The Times" has open-1 ed the subscript-ion list for the sale in ' New ...aland of it? ''History of the World." It i* nut a little curious at . first sighl. tha:. while every one will admit alike the intense interest of his- , tory. and the profit to be derived from the reading of it, history enters to so trifling an extent into the horizon of , even well read men and women. It has been retained in the schools—hardly, one fears, because of the interest with which ; the school text book clothes the subject —but the grown man or woman has come to look upon any more profound and detailed survey of human experience as a close study upon which only the specialist can venture. Tbe educated man ia the eighteenth century knew more history than his descendant at the . opening of the 20th. and, paradox as it sounds, this ignorance of history arises from the very multitude of historical works published in the 19th century. The number is so immense that one of the initial difficulties of the student of history is to find even a complete bibliography of the history of any country. Probably the most satisfactory form in which history can again be introduced into the circle of oi_i____y reading— where, indeed, it belongs—ts that of a "world history." This is the coarse which "The Times"' has taken, issuing a history which covers all ages and every nation in one consecutive narrative, yet spacious enough to deal with each nation with the vividness which only comes with full detail. The history of England, for example, iv "The Times' History" is dealt with at greater length than it is in Knight, or Bright, or the longer version of Green: the portion relating to classical Greece is almost three times as long as Bury's "'Ancient Greece.*' while Rome, before the decline, runs to the same number of words as Mommsen's history. Australia and New Zealand, it may be noted, are given 40,000 words. • Unlike the latest and most ambitious of German Weltgeschichten. that of \ Oncken, which is entirely the work of i German historians. "The Times' History"'! reveals no tendency to deal with other i nations as merely secondary factors in j British history. This *•atai error was I from the beginning prevented by aj scheme of international collaboration, j The full treatment of foreign nations I from the inside not only gives the reader I a true historical perspective, and vastly j adds to his interest, but also it is practically to be recommended since none can tell what quarter of the globe may not j suddenly become the storm centre of con-1 temporary politics. Ten years ago the average Englishman would scarcely have | foreseen the necessity of understanding Japanese history, and a few months ago . one might have thought the chapter in the history upon Bosnia-Herzegovina a I supererogatory contribution. j While, however, fault may be found! with the German world histories, no one who has any acquaintance with modern j Germajiy can doubt that its amazing progress is largely due to the historical] knowledge so widely disseminated among | all classes. The twentieth century opens upon a period of acute self-consciousness. I The destiny of the Empire i_ canvassed at j every street corner. History supplies the one light by which to pierce the veil j of the futurp, and the only rational ■ guide to conduct. '"The Times' History," j , | which now places at the disposal of the 1 • ! general reader the results of the vast j I historical labours of the lftth century, j •is well timed. It was written to be read, | and wiU possess a vital interest which) rivals the finest fiction. If readers who : usually confine their attention almost exclusively to novels, would only read I such histories, they would find how much I of absorbing romance as well as of solid instruction may be found in si«_i —nrlr*