Childe Gordon. What Happened in History

With a New Foreword by Professor Grahame Clark. — Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books, 1964. — 301 p.Before the author's death M. C. Burkitt wrote: 'Professor V. Gordon Childe is one of the foremost prehistorians. He has travelled widely and has done much work of great importance to the specialist; he has, as it were, personally added many bricks to the edifice of prehistoric knowledge. But he has also long realized that prehistory and early history form a continuum, and that, by standing back and contemplating the whole, many general conclusions can be arrived at with regard to the rise and fall of civilizations...For this reason a special welcome must be accorded to Professor Childe's fascinating little book now under review. In it he discusses the changes in material well-being and mental outlook which have taken place throughout the ages up to the break-up of the Roman Empire. He gives us a brief survey of what he describes as Palaeolithic and Mesolithic savagery, of Neolithic barbarism, of the rise of the Metal Age cultures, and so on until a climax was reached as a result of the Old World unity made possible by the exploits of Alexander the Great. Finally, there is a stimulating chapter with the author's views about the decline and fall of the ancient world...This more than worth-while book contains many facts - the background material for the study; but it is primarily intended to stimulate thought and to help the reader to understand the general story of human development and, maybe, to draw lessons which will help when our own civilization, now in danger of collapse, is once again in process of reconstruction' - Nature.Foreword by Professor Grahame Clark.
Author's Preface.
Archaeology and History.
Palaeolithic Savagery.
Neolithic Barbarism.
The Higher Barbarism of the Copper Age.
The Urban Revolution in Mesopotamia.
Early Bronze Age Civilization in Egypt and India.
The Expansion of Civilization.
The Culmination of Bronze Age Civilization.
The Early Iron Age.
Government, Religion, and Science in the Iron Age.
The Climax of Ancient Civilization.
The Decline and Fall of the Ancient World.
Maps.