Saturday, May 14, 2016

Something Old: Races of Mankind

I love books and history and vintage stuff. And sometimes all of these things come together. I have this duo of tomes by no one less that H. G. Wells (or the War of the Worlds fame, right?) called "The Outline of History". It was published in 1920...with updates added in 1931 and 1940. So you have these ideas being taken seriously between the two world wars and it says a lot about why World War II was possible.


The books cover a lot of information, much of which is just outmoded, much of which is also still relevant. It's chapter XI of Volume 1 called "The Races of Mankind" that I really marvel at. Here's my favorite passage and to be fair Well's credits this information to Elliot Smith--he didn't think it up, he just agrees with it, right? It also comes (and the books are full of these) with beautifully executed illustrations that just punctuate the horror of these ideas. So, what's NOT to LOVE!? Enjoy!

No comments: