This 1883 book by J. H. Ward is an early Mormon take on world history; it’s now available on Project Gutenberg, complete with more than thirty original illustrations. You may remember J. H. Ward as the author of Gospel Philosophy, a book on science and the gospel that we released and discussed some time ago.

The Church today has a particular understanding of how world history led up to the Restoration; this book shows Ward’s 19th century understanding of that topic, including discussion of Rome, the Middle East, the Reformation, the Americas, etc. I’m not sure to what extent Ward was popularizing existing theories vs. breaking new ground, but either way this is interesting stuff from a historiographical perspective.