Glimpses of World History is a compilation of 196 letters on world history written by Jawaharlal Nehru. These letters were written by Nehru to his daughter Indira, from various prisons in British India, between 1930 and 1933, in order to teach her the history of mankind.

One of his first letters to his daughter indicates his sadness about not being able to give her a “material” gift since he is in prison. Instead, he tells her that he will give her something that he can “afford”, which is a series of letters from his heart. Nehru, being in prison and having no recourse to any reference books or a library, wrote a total of 196 letters to his daughter, covering the history of mankind from 6000 BC till the time he wrote this book.

Glimpses of World History covers the rise and fall of great empires and civilisations from Greece to China and West Asia. It also covers some of the world's greatest leaders including Ashoka, Gandhi and Lenin, wars fought and revolutions, democracies and dictatorships. Nehru, in some of these letters, also expresses his dislike for the way history was taught in schools, as it was confined only to the history of a single country.

Glimpses of World History is a broad coverage of the history of humankind through Nehru's eyes. This book was published by Penguin India in May 2004 and is available in paperback.

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