Wells intended this volume to be straightforwardly read, almost as a novel is read. It gives, in a most general way, an account of our present knowledge of history, shorn of elaborations and complications. Its special end is to meet the needs of the busy general reader who 'wishes to repair his faded or fragmentary conception of the great adventure of Mankind.' This edition was revised from the 1922 edition and prepared b y Professor G.P. Wells (H.G. Wells' son) and Raymond Postgate. Five new chapters have been added and the original maps are redrawn, with two new maps added. Cover: Detail from Prismes électriques by Sonia Delaunay.