Builders of the Old World

From the Foreword:

Builders of the Old World is a history that begins, as it should, with man when he shared the world with the cave bear and the saber-toothed tiger. It stresses the common experience of mankind and treats history as a continuous onward movement, showing how the world of Caesar grew from the world of the Sumerians, and that of Charles Martel and St. Francis from the world of Caesar.

All along the way, it traces the influence of the geography, the climate, and the natural resources of each country upon the people and upon their history. Each country and each great civilization had problems which the people of that period attempted to solve; and in doing so, they enriched human life.

The upward struggle this book records did not end with the discovery of the New World. The effort of men to achieve fuller liberty gives each rising generation new tasks to perform. It is the hope of the authors of Builders of the Old World that it will equip its readers with a sense of their place in the long caravan of humanity, and in- spire them to assume the responsibilities that will fall to them in a world that is growing more and more unified.