Excerpt from Outlines of Universal History: From the Creation of the World to the Present Time The Translator of this work makes the following extract from the Author's preface to the German edition. "Believing that a Guide to History can answer its object only when it awakens the interest of the pupil, stimulates his desire for information, and excites his zeal for inquiry, I have everywhere arrayed the historical material in a narrative form, and have endeavored to give clearness, consistency, and animation to that form. My effort has been so to bring together the events of the world's history in their more prominent aspects and decisive moments, that the reader may obtain a clear idea of them; that the important facts may be exhibited together with their causes and consequences, and thus be more strongly impressed upon the imagination, and consequently upon the memory; and that the course of the narrative may not be disturbed or broken by interpolations or remarks which might require a further explanation. Instead of following the usual course of compendiums, textbooks, and outlines, by heaping up a mass of materials in the smallest possible space, and thus forming a kind of skeleton register of the events of history, I have rather endeavored to limit, my materials, giving place only to the most important and influential, and arranging these in historical succession... Mere historical events, with names and dates, are not easily retained by the memory, and do not possess any instructive or educative power. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.