Weech, wrote in the Preface:"This book is designed for the ordinary man or woman, who should have no difficulty in getting through it in a month, though many may prefer to compress their first reading of it into a fortnight."
Weech's book is noteworthy, not only for being both thorough and accessible, but also (not unlike Gombrich's) for maintaining a tolerant and measured style, despite being written during the dark days of Nazism.
The latest event it records is the Japanese expansion into the Pacific zone after their bombing of Pearl Harbor in December, 1941.
On the front cover are Wellington, Nelson, Lincoln, Napoleon, King William, Henry VIII, Custer, Bismarck, Charlemagne, and unidentified fighters of the RAF, the British Army and Royal Navy and the Afrika Korps.
On the back we find Jesus Christ, an Arab (who may be Mohammed), Julius Caesar, Tutankhamen and others, including a Viking, a Mongol, an Assyrian and a Greek.