A book I have recently read is " A little History of the world" by Gombrich E.H. I appreciate this book mainly because it portrays every nation as if it was a human with its own problems and psychology. The author, when mentioning historical events never mentions his opinion upon the event and simple shares information. Also When reading the book, the author keeps his writing on a personal level, which makes it comfortable for the reader.
When talking about World War,the author mentions how each nation is in an economical race against another, like France, Germany, Italy, etc. Feeling threatened, each country rushes to build powerful armies and navies, just to say " Attack me if you dare" , Similar things happen to humans. When in competition, humans rush to build strength and status, just to show each other who's boss and to prevent the other humans success. This situation almost always leads to war, which is mainly why World War 1 happened. This example does prove that in many ways, a nation is almost alike to its people.
"A little history of the world" mentions the year 70 AD, when Titus, the future ruler of the Roman empire conquers and destroys Jerusalem. Along with that the Romans destroy Jerusalem's temples, burn down homes, murder civilians and exile the Jews from Israel. Even though it was a truly evil act, the author never mentions his opinion. Instead he simple tells what happens to the exiled Jews-"They huddled together in prayer schools, after being scorned and exiled, still keeping there ancient traditions and religion." In the first place, not including an opinion might have saved the author from a serous argument.
At times reading about history maybe boring to some but when kept on a personal level, it could entertain most people. In "A little history of the world" the author, when mentioning an important fact in history, always adds a little question for the reader, like when talking about caveman the author asks " Do You know what else these caveman invented? Can you guess?". Another example would be, when the author is talking about the fires that happened in the Roman empire, he then asks " While the fires were burning down homes, What do you think Nero(Roman emperor did?" Keeping your writing at a personal level does indeed keep the reader interested in your book, as well as increases the book's popularity.
Talking about different nations as if they were humans helped me understand the picture of politics, leaving opinion out of historic events left me to understand whether a certain action was bad or not and keeping writing on a personal level helped me engage in reading. These reasons are why I praise " A little history of the world.