Fantastic. 5000 years of history condensed into a 100 pages – not the dates, the changing borders, or the winners and losers, but what history means and how societies evolve. Although written in the 60s, in many ways the topics and conclusions are very current (“Inequality is not only natural and inborn, it grows with the complexity of civilization”) but others are dated, such as his concern that communism may spread westwards throughout Europe. A short book, but every word-perfect sentence offers insight.
See review on Goodreads.