When Oxford published J. M. Roberts's History of the World last year, it was immediately acclaimed as a classic. Writing in The Observer, A. J. P. Taylor called it "a stupendous achievement...the unrivalled world history of our day." The Christian Science Monitor greeted it as a "landmark book....Highly readable...intelligently organized, insightful, and balanced." And The Sunday Telegraph declared, "There is nothing better of its kind."
Now we...