[swatcoder]

It's not as widely promoted, but if you're genuinely interested, there are more of those histories written then you'll ever have time to read yourself.

There's a classic five volume series "A History of Private Life" that works through a breadth-first survey over time. It can make for a great starting point, and is a bit like an encylopedia in the way you can engage with it as essays on certain times and topics instead of being expected to read it through serially.