"A History of the world" by Andrew Marr

It seems unlikely that any single person can possibly write a history of the world and that any person attempting to must be guilty of self-confidence bordering on arrogance. Such a wide canvas must surely suffer from a lack of depth and no single point of view can possibly permit the multiple perspectives needed.

Marr's history of England from 1900 to 1945 was brilliant. He encapsulated the spirit of the times through multiple vignettes. I loved it. But he fails utterly in this new book. It is too big. His attempts to summarise moments become bland generalizations when I was crying out for more details. Try as he might to avoid it he inevitably falls into the trap of being western-centric and focused on the modern world. He has not got the space to say anything truly worthwhile and the result is regrettable, forgettable.

Disappointing. February 2013; 565 pages