A History of Knowledge

{{Short description|1991 book by Charles Van Doren}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Use American English|date=November 2023}}

{{Infobox book

| italic title =

| image = A History of Knowledge.jpg

| image_size =

| border =

| alt =

| caption =

| author = Charles Van Doren

| audio_read_by =

| title_orig =

| orig_lang_code =

| title_working =

| translator =

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country =

| language =

| series =

| release_number =

| subject = Intellectual history

| genre =

| set_in =

| publisher =

| publisher2 =

| pub_date = 1991

| english_pub_date =

| published =

| media_type =

| pages =

| awards =

| isbn = 0-345-37316-2

| isbn_note =

| oclc =

| dewey = 001

| congress = AZ221

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

| native_wikisource =

| wikisource =

| notes =

| exclude_cover =

| website =

}}

A History of Knowledge is a 1991 book on intellectual history, with emphasis on the western civilization, written by Charles Van Doren, a former editor of the Encyclopædia Britannica. It is a history of human thought covering over 5,000 years of philosophy, learning, and belief systems that surveys the key historical trends and breakthroughs connecting the globalizing human landscape of the 20th century all the way back to the scattered roots of human civilization in India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, Greece, and Rome.{{Cite journal |last=Armour |first=Leslie |date=1991-01-01 |title=A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future (Book) |journal=Library Journal |volume=116 |issue=1 |pages=122–122}}{{Cite journal |last=Sabzwari |first=Ghaniul Akram |date=September 2005 |title=[A History of Knowledge] |journal=Pakistan Library & Information Science Journal |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=31–31}}{{Cite news |date=1991-01-20 |title=Condensed Knowledge |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-condensed-kno/152854284/ |access-date=2024-08-07 |newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner |location=San Francisco, California |page=170 |via=Newspapers.com}}

For a sense of the tone, the first section is entitled "The Wisdom of the Ancients" and begins, "By the time written history began, some fifty centuries ago, mankind had learned much more than our primitive ancestors knew."

The book's last chapter focuses on the potential developments of the 21st century. It also contains biographies of many notable historical figures.