First published in 1942, Gordon Childe's classic work "What happened in history" is an attempt to explain to the ordinary, non-academic person a history of the world. Concentrating on early history, Childe looks at how the ancient economies, their development and growth (as well as their decline) allowed civilisations to develop, flourish and in some cases, disappear. Childe starts his work by looking at the study of history, but quickly moves on to how societies move from small bands of people, to forming small communities and then the development of a class based economy. Alongside all this, he charts how the development of rudimentary science, tool making and the associated trade created the basis for a bigger society.