World History by James Stobaugh

World History: Observations &Assessments from creation to Today by James Stobaugh published by Master Books, is a fully illustrated history text for high school students. This book is one of a series of a thorough alternative high school social studies curriculum marketed for the home schooler. The quality presentation of this book rivals that of many popular history books or public school school. The author portrays a true unbiased events in history that many liberal try to deny or undermine- This is the conservative answer to all those revisionist, liberal revision of history that are disguised as history books that are so common in public schools and colleges today.

The title in of itself is rather broad- encompassing the whole of World history from the creation to the modern day. Historical events, as well as cultural and social events are captured.
The text begins with the story of Mesopotamia. Integrated within the coverage of widely known historical facts are biblical stories as well. There is a focus on biblical events and personalities in the context of works events and geographic locations to give the student a comprehensive view of history in its entirety! For example- the old testament prophet Daniel is discussed in the context of ancient Babylon empire. Moses is covered within the historical context of Egypt. Culturally relevant artwork, archeological sites and historical figures are photographed as well.
The information is presented in a magazine article type of format in contrast to large passages of tiny texts seen in many reference books. Basically the student can pick up this book starting with any lesson within any chapter. There is a glossary and a history timeline in the appendix. The way this book is presented and set up- make it am ideal resource for any student to return to.

This book- in large part is marketed to homeschooling parents - While there is merit to homeschooling, especially with the liberalism of some of the content of education, for many families it is financially prohibitive especially those who must work full time simply to make ends meet.Not every family has the luxury to be able to have a stay at home mom who can home school all her kids and not have to work.In this economy, it is common that even with households with intact- two parent families, both parents must work full time outside of the home, and they still struggle to make ends meet.

Aside from the recognition that for many, homeschooling is not an option- The book is complete with photographs, charts and other visual material- just as any other history text. It would make a good suppliment top any public school curriculum. With a BS in History, I greatly appreciated the perspective of this book and the recognition that history is not all about relativism, but there are morals and absolutes in life and history as well. The only downside to this book is that all the photos and graphics are in black and white and not color.Instead of the glossy full color pages that one would expect from a modern text, this book is in black and white- which is the only dissapointing feature. I can only assume that this is to keep the costs of the book down to $24.99. in contrast to college and other public school texts which might cost over $75 for just one book! This book also came with a teacher's guide as well.As a blogger for New Leaf publishers I received this book, published by Master Books for the purpose of writing this review.