The Atlas of World History undertakes a fair-minded journey through the human story by mingling close-up looks at events with broader views of what was then happening elsewhere in the world. Each of this book's six sections, arranged chronologically, opens with a world map that shows developments at various points of the compass, along with an essay about what was happening and why. The text by author Noel Grove, a staff writer for 25 years with the National Geographic magazine, continues with a worldwide perspective usually ignored in works of history.