Readers are offered a brief outline of world history, belonging to the pen of one of the largest Russian historians of Oriental studies. The book is written on the basis of a new concept of the course of the historical process developed by the author, radically different from the Marxist one: M. Diakonov believes , that this process does not proceed through five phases (primordial communal ,) slave, Feudal , Capitalist and Communist , and after eight (primitive ,) Primary , Early History , Imperial Antiquity , Middle Ages , post-medieval absolutist , Capitalist and post-capitalist[edit] The book is read with unrelenting interest. It is intended for a wide range of readers interested in history.