er was that if I
were writing a history of America, the Puritans would get fully one half
of the first twelve chapters; that however this was a history of mankind
and that the event on Plymouth rock was not a matter of far-reaching
international importance until many centuries later; that the United
States had been founded by thirteen colonies and not by a single one;
that the most prominent leaders of the first twenty years of our history
had been from Virginia, from Pennsylvania, and from the island of Nevis,
rather than from Massachusetts; and that therefore the Puritans ought to
content themselves with a page of print and a special map.

Next came the prehistoric specialist. Why in the name of the great
Tyrannosaur had I not devoted more space to the wonderful race of
Cro-Magnon men, who had developed such a high stage of civilisation
10,000 years ago?

Indeed, and why not? The reason is simple. I do not take as much
stock in the perfection of these early races as some of our most
noted anthropologists seem to do. Rousseau and the philosophers of the
eighteenth century created the "noble savage" who was supposed to have
dwelt in a state of perfect happiness during the beginning of time. Our
modern scientists have discarded the "noble savage," so dearly beloved
by our grandfathers, and they have replaced him by the "splendid savage"
of the French Valleys who 35,000 years ago made an end to the universal
rule of the low-browed and low-living brutes of the Neanderthal and
other Germanic neighbourhoods. They have shown us the elephants the
Cro-Magnon painted and the statues he carved and they have surrounded
him with much glory.

I do not mean to say that they are wrong. But I hold that we know by
far too little of this entire period to re-construct that early
west-European society with any degree (however humble) of accuracy. And
I would rather not state certain things than run the risk of stating
certain things that were not so.

Then there were other critics, who accused me of direct unfairness. Why
did I leave out such countries as Ireland and Bulgaria and Siam while I
dragged in such other countries as Holland and Iceland and Switzerland?
My answer was that I did not drag in any countries. They pushed
themselves in by main force of circumstances, and I simply could not
keep them out. And in order that my point may be understood, let me
state the basis upon which active membership to this book of history was
co