Charles Kovacs was born in Austria. He left his native country in 1938 at the time of the Anschluss and joined the British Army in East Africa. After the War, he settled in Britain, and in 1956 he took over a class at the Rudolf Steiner School in Edinburgh, where he remained a class teacher until his retirement in 1976. He died in 2001. His extensive lesson notes have been a useful and inspiring resource material for many teachers. He is the author of Parsifal and the Search for the Grail (Floris Books 2002) and Ancient Greece (Floris Books 2003).

'An excellent overview of world history, compiled from Charles Kovacs' copious lesson notes. Throughout, Kovacs is keen to convey to the reader the notion of cause and effect and the inter-relatedness of world events. Any teacher of the 13-year-old age group will find this book an excellent resource.'-- New View