What is a word for when you condense a topic into a work that is all that's needed to understand it?

Question

Like when CGP Grey makes a video about the European Union, that video explains everything with details yet clearly and concisely. I thought redux would have been a great word, but it only means "revived"

Answer 1

Consider quintessential

the essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form

Answer 2

you can say:

compendious (adj) compendium (n)

containing the substance of a subject, often an exclusive subject, in a brief form; concise: a compendious history of the world.

succint (adj)

marked by brevity and clarity; concise

precis (n, v)

a summary of the essentials of a text; abstract

abridge (v)

to shorten by omissions while retaining the basic contents: to abridge a reference book.

epitome (n)

Answer 3

Depending on the context you could use any of:

• pithy (a pithy explanation of the EU)
• summary (in summary, the EU is ...)
• executive summary/abstract
• boils down to (The EU boils down to ...)
• in a nutshell (in a nutshell, the EU is ...)

Answer 4

v.tr. digest, sum up, put in a nutshell, abridge

n. digest, abridgement, abridged version

adj. digested, summed-up, in-a-nutshell, abridged

Do look into the details, because these are not "perfect" synonyms.

Answer 5

I would call that video "The EU in brief".

Answer 6

In literary forms, a Treatise can often be this kind of work.

Answer 7

I've happened across "cheat sheet" since I asked the question.

Answer 8

One possibility is epitome, in the sense of this definition in The Oxford Universal Dictionary (1955):

A condensed record or representation in miniature.

User49727 suggested this term earlier, but didn't supply the particular meaning relevant to the original question.