From Then to Now: A Short History of the World

Just 50,000 years ago, our hunter-gatherer ancestors ventured off the African savannah and into the wider world. Now, our technology reaches far out into the cosmos. How did we get to where we are today?

With lively text and colorful illustrations, From Then to Now explains how individual societies struggled to find their own paths, despite war, disease, slavery, natural disasters, and the relentless growth of human knowledge. From Hammurabi to Henry Ford, from Incan couriers to the Internet, from the Taj Mahal to the Eiffel Tower, from Marco Polo to Martin Luther King, from Cleopatra to Catherine the Great, from boiled haggis to fried tarantulas – this is no less than the story of humanity. It’s the story of how we grew apart over all those years of migration and division, and how – as we recognize our common heritage and our often mixed ancestry – we can come together.

An index, maps, and notes make this a must-have reference, as well as a delight to read and to discuss. From Then to Now is bound to create a generation of history buffs!

CHRISTOPHER MOORE has been described as Canada’s most versatile writer of history. A winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award and other prizes, he writes widely about Canadian history for adults and children. His history for young readers, The Story of Canada, written with Janet Lunn and Alan Daniel, was named one of the ten best Canadian children’s books of the twentieth century. He writes a long-running column on history and historians for Canada’s History magazine (previously known as The Beaver). A past chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada, Christopher Moore lives in Toronto. Visit him at www.christophermoore.ca.

Award-winning illustrator ANDREJ KRYSTOFORSKI was born in Poland, Warsaw. After earning a master’s degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, he studied painting and graphic design. He began working as an illustrator and designer, and, since then, he has designed and illustrated posters, books, cartoons, and caricatures. Andrej Krystoforski lives in Toronto and now works exclusively on painting and illustrating children’s books.