This book is intended as a very basic guide for adult students to concepts and events that have contributed to the making of modern society. As the target readers are South Asians, the book looks fairly cursorily at what they could be expected to know already. Greater detail is provided with regard to areas which are comparatively neglected in the curricula currently in operation.

The fundamental concept behind the book is that there are certain facts about the way the world has developed which every educated person should know. Unfortunately, for reasons ranging from nationalism to incoherence, these have not been systematically presented to many school students.

In introducing them now, in the form of brief sketches that would make them easier to absorb, it was necessary also to challenge adult minds. The material is thus presented in terms of concepts that suggest the how, why and what of facts. Not only are facts presented, but students are also shown how they occur in sequence, how some events were caused or resulted from others, why various situations occurred at different times and in different places.

At the same time, it should be noted that theories should be challenged and students may present alternative interpretations. Such interpretations should also be based on facts and coherent arguments. In this respect, while I have tried to ensure that the facts presented here are accurate, students should be encouraged to check these for themselves, by using reference books and other such materials. They should also learn, first and foremost, to distinguish between facts and opinions. While facts can be established through study and experiment, opinions and interpretations are subjects for legitimate argument.