THE PURPOSE AND PLAN OF THIS BOOK
How much of the history of civilization can be taught, with any degree of assurance, to a pupil in the intermediate grades? This problem is solved by the authors of THE OLD WORLD.
In simple language and with dramatic illustration this book builds for the pupil a bridge between the past and the present. By careful selection of material to emphasize the major trends of history and the interdependence of historical events, the authors reveal the continuous but ever changing nature of man's conquest of his environ- ment and the contributions which people of other times and in many lands have made to the pupil's own ways of living.
As the pupil reads the book, he gains an understanding of how we have come to possess and enjoy the comforts and conveniences of the present day through the growth of science and invention. He learns how the freedoms of religious worship, of education, and of self-government, which are the foundations of our democracy, have developed.
The descriptive maps in THE OLD WORLD help to chart the pupil's course through the story of the ages. Study aids point up significant facts, and imaginative stories of events that could have happened stimulate the reader's interest in different historical periods. A colorful and graphic time line at the opening of the book contrasts the brief period of recorded history with the millions of years of prehistoric times. Pictured time lines throughout the book help the pupil to place certain events in their proper periods in history.
THE OLD WORLD is truly a world view of the advance of civilization. Besides the usual European background there are units on the Orient and on the Americas before their discovery by Colum- bus. The book concludes by describing briefly how the governments of the New World, built on the ideals of freedom fostered in the Old World, are advancing those ideals among all the nations of the earth.
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