Die Geschichte der Welt

The history of the world from the first humans to today, retold from a truly global perspective: Ewald Frie brings to life flourishing empires and magnificent metropolises around the globe that traded with each other, waged wars, and learned from one another. He makes us marvel at the lost cultures that we often overlook from Europe. Athens thus moves to the periphery, but the stunningly beautiful Kilwa in Africa will not be forgotten by anyone who has read this wonderfully written book with great ease.

The history of the world has been told from Europe until now. It is high time for a fresh perspective: Australia was settled by Homo sapiens earlier than Europe. People traveled thousands of kilometers across the open Pacific while the Romans still sailed anxiously along the coast. The pyramids and cities of America can stand alongside Babylon and Egypt. And while Western Europe engaged in religious wars during the modern age, a multicultural trade zone stretched from Hungary to South India.

But of course, it is also about the barbarians in the West: Ewald Frie tells of their discoveries and conquests, their revolutions and wars that changed the world. Since then, our planet has become a global megacity, where the rich isolate themselves from the poor yet are all interconnected. And the megacities of this world are now located where the largest cities existed thousands of years ago: outside of Europe.