Customer Reviews (1)

1 st Rate!
1st rate experience in quality, length of shipping time, very user friendly website!World History: People & Nations

I highly recommend this site! ... Read more

Product Description

For courses on World War II, Military History, and 20th Century Europe.

Highly regarded for its concise clarification of the complexities of World War II, this book illuminates the origins, course, and long-range effects of the war. It provides a balanced account that analyzes both the European and Pacific theaters of operations and the connections between them. The Fifth Edition incorporates new material based on the latest scholarship, offering updated conclusions on key topics and expanded coverage throughout.

Customer Reviews (7)

Very fast shipping and excellent condition
I received the book in impeccable timing, and I peronsally think that the book is in better condition than advertised. Thank you so much!

yeah
when you order something, it should come on time.choose this seller to ensure that

Well written, not enough maps or graphics
If you like text, this book is for you.It flows well, is balanced and fairly easy to read, but if you like color, don't bother.It is black and white throughout.More maps would be helpful, as would graphical comparisons when listing out numbers and totals.

Wonderful
In depth text of the events prior, during and after World War II.Starts with the Signing of the Treaty of Versailles by the "Big Three" (France, Britain and United States) and ends with the events leading to the unset of the Korean War.In the text there are numerous maps of military strategies and movements from the Mediterranean Theater Operations to Germans' Blitzkrieg.I personal recommend this prestigious text for anyone wanting an extensive academia perspective to the events, people, and situations of World War II.

Review of Lyons' World War II: A Short History
The book definitely offers a good overview of the EUROPEAN part of World War II, from diplomatic, economic, military before and during the conflict. Lyons offers a balanced view of conflict and that would both be suitable for academics and general readers alike. Lyons' style also provide the wealth of information in an interesting way.

However, Lyons' spent most of its time on Europe and overlooks the World War II outside the Western Hemisphere. It would be easy to overlook that China and Japan has already began fighting in July 1937, over two years before Germany invaded Poland on September 1939. ... Read more

Product Description
From the first civilizations to the 21st century, this wide-ranging, compulsively readable book encompasses all of world history—great ages and monumental events; the rise and fall of cultures; names, dates, and statistics; and stories galore. Designed as an authoritative reference that's also irresistible to browse, it's a brilliant blend of narrative, analysis, detailed facts, and visual variety including sidebars, time lines and more than 200 maps and illustrations.

The book offers four revealing ways to look at the human epic. In Milestones, 12 essays address key developments from agriculture and writing to modern democracy and other important themes; next, Major Eras takes a chronological approach, examining 11 eras from prehistory to the present. World at a Glance traces specific subjects through the centuries, with entries on Wars, Religions, Human Accomplishments, Leaders, Artists, and more. An expansive appendix listing presidents, popes, and other world figures, as well as a bibliography, a glossary, and a comprehensive index round out this amazing reference.

A book that meets the most demanding standards of accuracy and graphic excellence, this is an indispensable tool for students and an illuminating, engrossing exploration for anyone interested in the who, what, why, when, and where of world history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Comprehensive and interesting
I am using this as a homeschooling text for a 7th grader.The sections are compact yet comprehensive, giving a concise overview of an historical period in a geographical region.I like that it isn't euro-centric; it is filling in the gaps of my own early education!

Not really World History
The latter half of this book is clearly a "Western" History Almanac.It basically discusses other countries' involvements in western countries' affairs.Also, there was too much info on domestic issues in the U.S.-- that information should be reserved for the U.S. almanac!! I gave it 3/5 b/c the beginning was informational.

Great Reference
I learned more from this book than all my history classes. It compresses the history of humans from the beginning telling facts using diagrams and maps. It tells us how the human world evolved from nothing to what it is today.

Wonderful Reference Book
National Geographic Almanac of World History is a wonderful resource. The Chronological Chapters, Maps, Time-lines and Introductory Threads are easy to use. A very nice addition to add to your library.

I Rate and Compare World History Atlas Books
As a reader I like to have quick reference books at my finger tips including a new version of the Oxford English Dictionary about 3500 pages long - that I use almost daily. So I decided to add a "history atlas". In the process of doing my research I read the other amazon.com reviewers and then made three trips to two large book stores to actually look at the books and get a better feel for which was the best. I ended up buying the Oxford Atlas of World History. Here are my picks and rankings.

Listed by My ranking, #1 is the best, #2 is a creative alternative but no substitute.

1. Atlas of World History, Oxford University Press 2002, 368 pages, (...), 13.5" x 10.3" x 1.62" ranked 46,632 on Amazon.com. Hands down winner - professional - good text descriptions, outstanding maps and drawings, covers most things from the cave man forward. Negatives: Big and heavy. If you want to save a few dollars buy the "concise" version.

2. Creative alternative: The Penguin Atlas of World History, Penguin Books 2004, (...), just a paperback sized, just published, 304 pages. Surprisingly impressive, lots of text and pictures mixed together and it is easy to carry around. A nice quick alternative but it will be printed in two volumes.

3. Timelines of World History, DK Publishing 2002, 666 pages, (...). 10.0" x 1.6" ranked 25,800 on Amazon.com. Second with lots of value but in some ways not as comprehensive.

4. National Geographic Almanac of World History, National Geographic 2003, 384 pages, (...), 9.6" x 7.8" x 1.17" ranked 24,426 on Amazon.com. Similar to but less impressive than Oxford books. More text, narrower coverage, fewer maps and drawings.

5. DK Atlas of World History, DK Publishing, 352 pages,(...), 10.96" x 14.66" x 1.28" ranked 10,716 on Amazon.com. My last place book seems like a giant comic book. I love the DK travel books but this seems like one step beyond DK's area of expertise. Superficially it is similar to the Oxford book and it is cheap, and some might like it but it tries to be politically correct and fails.

6. Oxford Dictionary of World History, Oxford University Press, 704 pages, (...), pocketbook sized, sales rank 330,000. Mainly terms, people, and dates but has a few maps also. Limited use but an alternative. I prefer the new Penguin book but this is the best history dictionary to buy. ... Read more

Product Description

"An intellectual high-wire act that the author pulls off with deceptive ease. . . . Battles and wars, scientists and inventors, artists and tycoons, all get their turn in a smoothly rolling narrative. Mr. Osborne, with great skill, ties his disparate topics together into a coherent narrative, as absorbing as any novel. . . . It would be hard to imagine a more readable general history of the West that covers so much ground so incisively."-William Grimes, The New York Times

Customer Reviews (14)

Civilized
Very entertaining book. Glad I purchased it. Author beautifully summarizes major events or people in just a few paragraphs. Examples: St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas. The introductory pages about those who "discovered" America are amazing. Ex. They were only coming to make money, either by taking gold or silver or finding a passage to the Far East, so they could make money.

A great update on the Durant histories
Civilization pulls the beard on many classic text on European history like the Durant series I grew up on. This series was written during the Cold War and could not escape from the fear of the time.

The author presents a much needed revision and many intriguing insights. Here's some excerpts:
"Generations of schoolchildren have been taught that waves of invaders from Jutland and west Saxony swept into the east and south of Britain as the Romans withdrew. The Celtic inhabitants of the lowlands were then forced back to the far west and North."
"This story, which is almost entirely untrue, was largely created in the seventh century (i.e. 300 years later) by Bede."

"The Anglo-Saxon cemetery at West Heslerton was placed among Bronze Age burial mounds, and more than 80 percent of the 200 human remains discovered were of people of Celtic, or old British, ancestry -- and none suffered violent deaths or major injuries." (pg. 40-41)
What the author is saying is that what we were taught in high school history was wrong. The Anglo-Saxon invasion was a dilution of cultures not an invasion. An invasion fits nicely with modern misconceptions of European behavior.

The author also explores many new theories about European history and digs deep into European philosophy to understand who we were 10,000 years ago, how we evolved, and thereby discover who we are now. I found many of the new theories fascinating. Many ideas seemed appropriate for our times. Here's an excerpt:
"For three decades from the mid-1840's, free trade seemed to work; the British economy prospered as more controls were lifted and income and other taxes were reduced. It seemed that this was the "natural" way in which an industrial economy should run. But this turned out to be an illusion. It has been convincingly argued (see for example, Gray) that controlled and regulated markets, with their forest of evolving customary restraints, are the product of "natural" human society, brought about by the overriding need for social cohesion, while free markets have to be imposed by a strong authoritarian state." (pg. 350-351).

At the time, the British government was controlled by the East Indian company, the first modern corporation. The worker rebellions of the 1840's, the resulting work of Marx and Engels and even the American Revolution were a response to corporate encroachment on individual freedom.

I found the modern view of the rise of capitalism and the interaction with the age of discovery very engrossing.

European treatment of the natives of America was different than earlier absorption of people in Europe during the early Iron Age and Bronze age. John Keagan, a traditional military historian, would have you believe that all was conquest. To Europeans during the age of discovery, formed by the recent reformation in religion and the explosive growth of nationalism and industrialization, led them to think of the natives as backward, unworthy animals. Wealth, and its entanglement with power, led us to conquer and annihilate rather than absorb. Look at how the Saxons melted peacefully into the culture dominated by the Celts and Romans in southern England. The same can largely be said of the later Norman invasion of England and France.
There was some bloodshed during these periods but it was nothing like the European subjugation of North and especially South and Central America. Capitalism is to blame. Capitalism is a uniquely European invention evolving from Martin Luther and the Reformation. Taking the good with the bad we have the creation of the individual conscience.

Unfortunately, modern capitalism still struggles with the question of morality; the religions born of Martin Luther's 95 thesis have proven a poor answer.

Much of the world took to Western Capitalism easily enough but could not understand its connection with individual conscience. Thus, the Chinese can indulge in stealing, e.g., copying movies, while in headlong pursuit of Capitalism, an evil if unrestrained.
This is an excellent history text and should enjoy a long shelf life. The author has managed to make history interesting again.
If this review was useful, please add your vote.

Slightly Ethnocentric
The book is very expansive, but I think that rather than a general history it is more of a cultural or social history of the Western World.There are times when the author seems to be quite balanced but other times when he presents things in terms of "us vs. them" using the classic outsiders and insiders viewpoint.The fact that he refers to civilization as western feeds into the attitudes that he argues about being wrong.Parts of the book are formulated in the classic euro-centric style western is bestern and anything else just ain't civilized.

The parts of the book where he stops insulting anything non-western and actually talks history is very good.More detailed coverage than the Western Civ class I had in college.I suppose it is too much to ask for an author to consider more people than just Westerners as "Civilized".Despite my lamentations, I enjoyed the history lesson and I would read parts of it again.The best chapters are: "In the Beginning" "Another Way of Living" "Us and Them" and "The End of Civilization"

A 'must' for history buffs and a welcome addition to both academic and community library World History reference collections
Western civilization is something that most Americans cherish. But is it really something to be admired without analysis, criticism, or perspective? "Civilization: A New History of the Western World" by Roger Osbourne tries to take a full on scholarly approach to western civilization in its entirety. Pulling no punches, it discusses Hitler as much as it does the cure for Polio, and spans from the early Greek states to the events leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. An original work of seminal scholarship, "Civilization" is educational and interesting in its content, making it a 'must' for history buffs and a welcome addition to both academic and community library World History reference collections.

A liberal propaganda piece
This book is well written. This is probably the only good thing that can be said about it. The content is the usual new age, liberal, "progressive", victimologist, pick your term, propaganda. Old (and long debunked) myths are cleverly woven into the well written narrative to make them appear common and uncontested knowledge.
There is the usual claim that middle eastern and pre-columbian societies didn't practice the same kind of indiscriminate violence that Europeans brought to them. Then, of course, Celts are good, Romans are bad. Greeks fighting for freedom? Pah, this was just propaganda. Why did the Greeks win? Economics, of course (Marx would be proud).
His explanation for Greeks' achievements? Alphabetical writing. Simple isn't it? He never pauses to explain how exactly did this work nor why other societies that discovered alphabetical or other kind of writing didn't achieve that much in such short time.
I stopped reading this book after the chapter about colonization of America. As expected it was full of the usual moralism (bad Spaniards poor natives) and empty of anything worth reading.
To conclude it's a pity that the author doesn't follow its own ruminations about how societies view on history is shaped by their preconceptions. It might have made him pause and consider how laughable his opinions might become in 2108.
... Read more

Product Description
What makes a great world history textbook? Thorough scholarship and an engaging story

Glencoe World History is a full-survey world history program authored by a world-renowned historian, Jackson Spielvogel, and the National Geographic Society. Experiencing world history and understanding its relevance to the modern world is the goal of this program. The program addresses the importance of motivating students and engaging them in meaningful learning—learning that links the past with issues confronting young people today.

Glencoe World History addresses student learning on many levels and encourages the reader to become actively involved with the beautifully presented content. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Book arrived fast!
The book was in better shape than I had expected & was delivered very quickly.

WH books are usually boring
The book I received was in great condition for a used book.Price was great--Book is very large
has colorful pictures---haven't used it for school yet

World History 1&2
This book is an excellent resource for any student in college taking World History 1&2 in their Freshman yr.
I passed World History 2 with an A in college because of this textbook!

Great Text
This book has an excellent multi-learning style approach throughout it.There are supeb graphs, charts, information boxes, and other learning tools used in the text.The target audience seems to be high school students, but if you have never studied world history before, or if your familiarity with world history is not thorough and/or recently reviewed this would be a great place to start.

The text also approaches world history from the vantage point of manifold disciplines, which serves to both eliminate and complement the often-found drudgery whichhas been concomitant with this subject matter in past generations.

I am studying this text along with my daughter;she is taking world history as an independent study in order to test out of it this fall and clear her schedule for other classes she would like to fit into her schedule this year. She will be a high school sophmore.

Great Condition!
This was a text book for my child. We purchased it used. It is in great condition at a great price and arrived in a timely manner. We saved a lot of money ordering text books through Amazon. ... Read more

Product Description
Islamic peoples account for one fifth of the world's population and yet there is widespread misunderstanding in the West of what Islam really is. Francis Robinson and his team set out to address this, revealing the complex and sometimes contrary nature of Muslim culture. As well as taking on the issues uppermost in everyone's minds, such as the role of religious and political fundamentalism, they demonstrate the importance of commerce; literacy and learning; Islamic art; the effects of immigration, exodus, and conquest; and the roots of current crises in the Middle East, Bosnia, and the Gulf. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the interaction between Islam and the West, from the first Latin translations of the Quran to the fatwa on Salman Rushdie. This elegant book deliberately sets out to dismantle the Western impression of Islam as a monolithic world and replace it with a balanced view, from current issues of fundamentalism to its dynamic culture and art.Francis Robinson is the editor of two outstanding reference works: Atlas of the Islamic World Since 1500 (Cambridge, 1982) and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India (1989). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Lacking and superficial

I am sorry to say that I wish I had never purchased this book, or even read it. To begin with, it is illustrated with pornography (one entire page of a half naked woman painted by a Frenchman, and a cartoon of a man reading pornography!). Instead of providing actual quotes from authentic material, with some important exceptions such as an excellent discussion of Sakhawi's biography of Umm Hani, one of his female teachers, the authors mostly rely on illustrations which fill the bulk of the book's pages (if the illustrations were removed, you would have half the book, and not more than a fifth of these are actually necessary). Each chapter is hardly more than an essay, and a look into the Muslim world from the outside in through murky glass as best.This oversimplified history of the Muslim world does not allow as much space for it's discussion of the life and call of Prophet Muhammad (Sal Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) from his birth to the Hijra as it gave the pornography mentioned above. The four schools of jurisprudence and their development is completed in one paragraph, the Hanbali madhab is completely distorted as the author of the particular section does not distinguish between creed and jurisprudence, not to mention completely ignores important works of 'Aqeedah or creed, or difference in, which is a fundamental part of Islamic history. Texts quoted such as hadiths are often translated inaccurately, and the one illustrative example given of a hadeeth fails to include the chain of narrators.Western scholars and modernists are cited as criticizing the authenticity of certain well-known narrations, seemingly accusing the Muslim scholarship of being lenient. In reality, the authors themselves cite hadiths throughout the book without mentioning their authenticity or even the book from which they are quoted, while the Muslim scholars of hadith, past and present, are far more critical than any modernist or western author. Beyond a halfhearted attempt to summarize the scholarship of Ahl as-Sunnah, or the Islamic orthodoxy, the book jumbles together Shi'a and Sufi misunderstandings, and portrays the latter as being nearly mainstream, and are represented even on the cover of the book.No references as given whatsoever as the book carries on by means of footnotes or otherwise, instead the book ends with an exhaustive bibliography of mainly recent western scholarship which would hardly further enlighten the reader. Resultantly, the authors portray their own effort as condescending and ethnocentric, much more than having any semblance of true research or scholarship.

Textbook for college class
Bought this book for my husband who was taking a college course in Islamic Art and Architecture. This book was comprehensive and quite useful to him. We purchased a used copy that was in excellent condition and delivered quickly.

Would recommend for content, quality and service.

Can't Recommend A Purchase
This book is published by the Cambridge University Press and is this promoted, implicitly at least given it title, as an authoritative reference work. It may have great merits as a work of political literature, but it is disappointing as a reference work of history, and it is a surprise to this reader that the Cambridge University Press has apparently lowered its editorial and professional standards so much. There are other works in the Cambridge Illustrated History series that easily meet the normal standards of such a reference work, for example the volume on China.
Two examples of the limitations of this book give a representative picture of its shortcomings. First, in the Introduction, the editor uses the term "heresy" to describe how "western eyes" view the attack of some muslims on the achievements of the Enlightenment. Much of the book seems to be a partisan argument defending one particular, and extreme, muslim doctrine against a particular, and also extreme, non-muslim viewpoint. Leaving aside the question of whether this approach suits a work that is positioned as an authoritative reference book, the choice of the term "heresy" here is unfortunate, and one feels prompted to wonder whether the term was picked deliberately to obscure the main point of the enlightenment, which was to move from revealed religion to rational or scientific exploration of questions where possible. This kind of confusion will happen in the choice of words occasionally in even the best writing, but it is pervasive in this book.
The second example is found a few pages later, in relation to women. The text states that the freedom enjoyed by women in the West has on the whole produced shock among muslim men, and that this freedom "led to moral degeneration." Had the text quoted these words -- " 'led to moral degeneration ' " -- to mean that either this view was stated by some muslim or that the editor takes it to represent an opinion, that could be acceptable in a reference work, but written as an assertion, i.e. a statement of fact or of the author's best impartial judgement, it moves the book from being a reliable reference work to being a polemic or worse.
It is hard to say whether the book's poor quality in many places is as a result of very low standards of editing and writing, or whether the book has a narrow and, one hopes, minority agenda. Some chapters are very good, but on the whole this is not the book that it claims to be, and the potential buyer's money is probably better saved for a different title. It is to be hoped that the management of the CUP will ensure a much better work in the next edition.

gives an appreciation of Muslim nations and history
Lapidus has assembled a set of authors to write this nicely done summation of the Muslim world. Well accompanied by numerous photos of current Islamic architecture. From Spain to Arabia and further. Plus, there are also centuries-old illustrations of important personages. Notwithstanding the Koranic prohibition against the depiction of the human form. Apparently, in many Muslim societies, that was not strictly adhered to, especially for rulers who wanted their visages immortalised.

The book covers both the history and the current state of these societies. Several authors appear to be Muslim, and certainly the tone of the book is strongly sympathetic towards Muslims. Though the book also makes us aware that there is a great variety of opinions and customs amongst Muslims. Not a monolithic bloc.

Plus, the long tradition of Muslim scholarship is explained. It helped preserve knowledge when Europe fell into the Dark Ages.

Wonderful Intro to Islamic Culture and Belief
In an age of prejudice towards the Islamic faith, it is nice to see a more accurate and even-handed book covering the Muslim world. This book gives an excellent introduction, going into depth on how the west has viwed the Islamic world, and vice-versca. Then it goes onto the first chapter, where it discusses pre-Islamic Arabia, the life of Mohammad, the Rashidun, the schism between Sunni and Shi'a, and the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. This chapter is especially interesting in laying the framework for the foundations of the Islamic world, as well as the spread of Islam and Arabic culture, and later conversion of non-Arab peoples (most notably the Persians). In the next chapter, the Islamic world from 1000 to 1500 AD is covered, when Islam had spread across the Middle East, west to Spain and west Africa and east towards India and Central Asia. This chapter covers many interesting subjects, such as the Fatimid dynasty, the Crusades, the Mongols, Byzantium and the Turks, and Islamic states in East Asia and Africa. The third chapter covers the period from 1500 to 1800 AD, a period of both great achievements and decline. The Persian, Mongol and Turkish powers are mentioned (such as the Safavids, Mughals and Ottomans), alongside mention of Islam in Africa and elsehwere in Asia (mainly China and Southeast Asia).

The subsequent chapter focuses on the 1800s to the present day, and a growing western presence in Islamic lands. This chapter shows how European powers carved up Islamic lands (the French in Syria and north/west Africa, the Brits in Iraq, Palestine, Egypt and South Asia, the Italians in north Africa, Russians in central Asia, etc), and how Islamicist reformer movements arose because of this. Mention is also made of non-colonized states (such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran), and of the emergence of independant Islamic states. The second section of the book goes more into cultural studies, delving into economies, trade routes and social structure within the Islamic world. Mention is made of both historical traderoutes and interconnectedness in the Islamic world, stretching from Morocco to Indonesia, and of modern economies in predominantly Muslim states. In chapter seven, the book explores learning in Islamic societies. Mention is made of the high degree of literacy in Islam, and the many great scientific achievements in medicine, astronomy and mathematics. Mention is also made of the impact of the west on Islamic learning. This is followed by a chapter on the arts in the Islamic world, ranging from calligraphy to architecture to classical Arabic music (including mention of legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kalthum) and everything in between. This is an excellent chapter for understanding and appreciating Islamic culture.

The book closes out with a conclusion on Islam in the modern world, relationships with the west, the spread of Islam to every country in the world and crises in Bosnia, Palestine, Kashmir and Chechnya. It also has a wonderful timeline covering various Islamic dynasties around the world and a short glossary of Arabic terms. Its quite a nice book for getting to understand some of the basic history and culture of the Islamic world and some of the current issues facing the Islamic world. For the purposes of this book, by the way, the Islamic world counts as any country where the majority of the population is Muslim, not just self-declared Islamic states (which would be limited to Iran, Pakistan, Mauritania and such). Hence it covers almost all of the Middle East, north Africa, Central Asia and much of South Asia, as well as Bosnia, Albania, parts of west and east Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and so forth. In fact, the book makes a point of examining Islam in South Asia, Africa, China and elsewhere beyond the Middle East. It also includes many illustrations and maps of the Islamic world. Hence its an invaluable aid for anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim, in understanding the wonderful history and culture of Islam. However, it doesn't go into depth on beliefs or specific cultures (such as Arabs, Persians, Malay, Mongols and whatnot), so you would need to look elsewhere for that. ... Read more

Product Description
Predicting the future is a notoriously precarious, profitable and even dangerous business. In A Brief History of the Future, Oona Strathern explores the lives, works and mindset of some of the most interesting, important and influential futurists over the years; from Delphi's virgin visionaries, to pop futurists, science fiction writers, trend gurus and evolutionary experts.

Beginning with the formative years of futurism, Strathern shows how it evolved into a respectable discipline and explores how it later branched out to adapt to the changing needs and greed of civilization. In trying to predict how we would live, work and even love, some of these futurists were spectacularly right, some were embarrassingly and hilariously wrong, and some really gave the future a run for its money.

Many of their predictions were of a practical, technical and scientific nature - Leonardo's flying machines, Darwin's evolutionary theory, Mendeleyev's periodic table. Some were political - from Marx's political futurism and Orwell's Big Brother to von Neumann's game theory that nearly led to a Third World War. All of them however, had something interesting and poignant - if not controversial or unusual to say about what was and is to come.

Along the way, prediction has become an integral part of business and politics - Shell used scenario planning against oil shocks in the 1970s, cool-hunters prowled the streets in the 1990s and today Nokia has a `foresight' department. Even the government of Lichtenstein has a shiny new futures department. Ultimately, we must ask whether we can `make' the future, or does the future make us? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not greatly informative, and title is misleading.
This book is almost completely about the history of getting people to accept new ideas and technologies (now old).The author explains little about the past discoveries, but focuses on the process whereby the inventor or discoverer (or their advocate) was finally heard.There is almost no information on the future, only history.Nor was there any focus on future discoveries needed, nor future successful methods of mass change.It should have been titled more along the lines of the history of gaining acceptance of discoveries, nothing of the future.

Forecasting the future has its own archeology, and here is a good guide to it
One of the more alarming mistakes in foresight work is that forecasters don't see themselves as operating within their own world view, and the preconceptions and priorities of their own time. In fact the very idea of foresight - why do it and how to do it - has changed quite markedly through human history. Knowledge of this historiography is of course important in assessing current forecasts. This is why Oona Strathern's A Brief History of the Future is an important book.
The book is hardly brief (at 300 pages) so there's no sense that it's a potted history. And it's not compromised by what one - alas - expects of this kind of setup: pandering to all characters in positive or equal terms. In fact a key value of the book is its clear-headed and plucky judgment of who the key figures are (and who are not) and what their contributions have each been (vs what they might have thought they were). It is also unusually even-handed in balancing US and European inputs. Full review at The Future Savvy Journal blog. - Adam Gordon, Author [Future Savvy: Identifying Trends to Make Better Decisions, Manage Uncertainty, and Profit from Change.

Looking back to leap ahead
From the Oracle of Delphi to Science Fiction fantasies to chilling Cold War to Hot War scenarios, Oona Strathern captures the long history of soothsaying and visualization of the future in this eminently readable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Here is a brief, well-written, and lively survey of the history of Southeast Asia from ancient times to the present, paying particular attention to the region's role in world history and the distinctive societies that arose in lands shaped by green fields and forests, blue rivers and seas. Craig Lockard shows how for several millennia Southeast Asians, living at the crossroads of Asia, enjoyed ever expanding connections to both China and India, and later developed maritime trading networks to the Middle East and Europe. He explores how the people of the region combined local and imported ideas to form unique cultures, reflected in such striking creations as Malay sailing craft, Javanese gamelan music, and batik cloth, classical Burmese and Cambodian architecture, and social structures in which women have often played unusually influential roles. Lockard describes colonization by Europeans and Americans between 1500 and 1914, tracing how the social, economic, and political frameworks inherited from the past, combined with active opposition to domination by foreign powers, enabled Southeast Asians to overcome manychallenges and regain their independence after World War II. The book also relates how Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam are now among the fastest growing economies in the world and play a critical role in today's global marketplace. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

The Real History of World War II
A great read with excellent visuals and sidenotes to really pull in the reader.This book is great, it gives an excellent overview of every aspect and major battle in the war.I also enjoyed it because it gives you a nice flavor of World War I and how is attributed to World War II.Can't recommend it enough.

Beautifully Written
Axelrod's book on World War II is more a social and political than a military history.

He gives abundant background--from World War I on up.He also analyzes, briefly but deftly, the social, political, and economic trends that provided the seed-bed for the war.

His work is encyclopedic, jumping from Europe to the Pacific to Africa to South Asia; but he manages to fit all the pieces together into a coherent whole.

Mercifully, he does not get bogged down in details of battle, but concentrates on strategy and overall goals.

The book has many virtues, but here are some of the best:

It is replete with sidebars that clarify and summarize and give notes on interesting details.

His scope is panoramic, and he puts the war, its leadup and aftermath, in a broad context.

He is trenchant about the interaction of personalities and social trends.

Best of all, Axelrod is a wonderful writer.Pithy, concise, elegant, probing, his prose is alway flexible and revealing.

The one criticism I have--and it is a small one--is that the maps have been shrunk to microscopic size.

But given his overall descriptive powers, this hardly matters.

P.S. Among his several "What Ifs" Axelrod poses this.Rather than speculating if WWII might have been averted if the Versailles Treaty had not been so harsh, he says (far more plausibly) WWII might have been averted if the U.S. had not entered WWI--leaving it a stalemate, from which a less lopsided peace might have emerged.A cogent point.

Great, concise history of WWII
This is a great overview of World War II without an overabundance of detail.A real history buff would probably like to read a more wordy account, but, for readers like me, this is enough.I was a little disappointed that more information wasn't given about the Japanese-American internment camps in the US.This is a subject that I didn't anything about until maybe 10 years ago.
l
I like Mr. Axelrod's writing style, which is easy to understand and not tediously boring.I highly recommend this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Oxford's Atlas of World History is the result of years of intensive work by a specialist team of scholars, editors, and cartographers. It presents the story of humanity in its physical setting, from the emergence of the earliest hominoids to the present day. Truly international in scope, the atlas incorporates the latest research into Asian, African, and Central and South American history, as well as the traditional core of North American and European events.

The Atlas includes sections on the Ancient World, Medieval World, Early Modern World, Age of Revolutions, and the Twentieth Century and Beyond. Each section opens with an introduction that highlights the main socioeconomic, cultural and religious themes of the period, followed by spreads of maps, text, illustrations and captions that discuss specific regions and eras. Spreads depict everything from hunting in Africa in 10,000 BC to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia in the earliest years of the millennium, the decline of the Byzantine Empire, the growth of the Atlantic economies in the 18th century, and standards of living since 1945.

The Atlas features some 450 vivid full-color maps illustrating the major themes and events of world history, 100 photographs, 60 diagrams and hundreds of thousands of words of explanatory text. Unique for such an atlas, the entire work is thoroughly cross-referenced, allowing the reader to move backwards and forwards in time or across the world from region to region, following themes or lines of inquiry across pages.

The new edition brings the Atlas into the 21st Century and up to the present day. New and updated maps and illustrations cover a wide range of evolving subjects such as population changes, international trading, urbanization, political and economic developments, literacy rates, the concentration of world languages, and many more important and always timely subjects. Coverage of Africa, South Asia, Eastern Europe, and every other part of the world is revisited and updated, making this the most up-to-date atlas of world history available, in addition to being the most complete.

A comprehensive index of more than 8,000 entries includes numerous alternative name forms used over the centuries. The Atlas of World History closes with a bibliography that provides a booklist for suggested further reading. Equally well-suited for a general audience and students of history or international relations, the Atlas of World History continues Oxford's presence as the premier publisher of world atlases. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Fascinating
As a person with a casual interest in history, I was hoping that a book summarizing everything would exist. This is that book. The development and changes of borders in world history is something that interests me and Atlas of World History did not disappoint. Through the pages are the stories of the rise and fall of great empires. There are more maps than I could have ever wanted. The text itself is interesting, albeit in the expected textbook format. The book is almost always non-biased towards historical events. There are also summaries of larger scale wars such as the World Wars, the American Civil War, and so on. I imagine that one could spend a lot of time just thumbing through the pages looking at the maps which are all beautifully and clearly illustrated.

As far as I can tell, there are very few errors in the book. Some of this comes from the fact that borders were sometimes in a constant state of flux (see Byzantine Empire). Also important to note is that the goal of this book is summarizing. For example, the Roman Empire gets only two pages.

In conclusion, if you like history and want a visualization of the borders and people's movement throughout the times but you are not looking for something in-depth, buy this book.

Great purchase
I have been reading a book on Genghis Khan, and tried this book to provide more understanding. Beyond this, it was excellent, and better than I expected in covering various other historical times and events.

Recommended Atlas
Was looking for a good yet comprehensive historical atlas to pick up to have a newer one on hand (for self and kids).Looked through many varieties at indy and big box bookstores and decided on this one.It has many, many maps of cultural, economic, linguistic, religious, and sociopolitical events beyond the scope of general history and geography that most atlases cover.Simply put it had more to offer than its similar competitors.

Recommended.

A must for the history fan or an educator
This book is not your ordinary historical atlas.This atlas has highly intelligent commentary that accompanies the maps.The quality of the commentary places it far above other intelligent historical atlases, such as the giant Dorling Kindersley atlas of world history.
It has thematic maps and commentary, such as on modern economic trends.
The maps have very good accuracy of boundaries.The atlas is comprehensive attention; it does not only concentrate on Europe or the United States.

good product
Atlas allows you to match historical events with geographical maps. The best use is for people who know the historic event but want to refresh it in geographical context or just like me enjoy to browse through historical maps.It is not replacing history books (text that accompanies maps is rather concise) but represents a good addition to them.
The drawback is small font size which makes it difficult to read. ... Read more

Product Description
This engaging and accessible volume draws on the most recent historical archeological scholarship to tell the stories of human evolution, "gathering and hunting" societies, and the distinct breakthroughs that led to the emergence of the earliest cities, states, and civilizations. Highlighting both the separate paths and the intersecting journeys of diverse human communities, In the Beginning provides the essential but often neglected foundation on which all subsequent historical development was constructed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent Book on Pre-History
In the beginning, according to all our western civilization textbooks, the dawn rose on the towering zigurats of Sumer, a thriving civilization, fully formed with irrigated agriculture and distinctive cuneiform script.This premise begs a lot of questions about what precisely happened during prehistory that led to the emergence of complex human societies and all of the associated accouterments.

Ristvet fills this pedagogical gap with her excellent book. She synthesizes the most current anthropological research using a multi-regional approach (both Old World and New World) addressing essential topics such as early religions, the development of technologies and material culture, and the origins of agriculture and literacy.Most importantly the author manages to present these complex topics in a prose that is engaging, straight-forward, and current.

I highly recommend this text to instructors of ancient history, western civilization, anthropology, and archaeology courses.Though, I bought it simply because I thought it would be a fascinating and enjoyable read.I was not disappointed.

Good Book
I studied under this Prof at Georgia State University and she knows what she is talking about. I loved the book and bought it because she does excellent work. ... Read more

Product Description
The authors open this test preparation manual with a general overview of world history, treating it as an academic discipline, and offering general study advice. The 25 study units that follow review the entire scope of human history, starting with the emergence of early human communities, the development of agricultural societies, and the emergence of civilizations. The chronicle of the world's civilizations is reviewed to the present era.The manual concludes with two full-length model tests with all questions answered and explained. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Please Do Not Buy This Book!
Hey guys, I'm about half way through the newer 2009 edition, and I must say that this book is TERRIBLE.
I was so enraged that I had to come on amazon just to post this review.

Let's take a look at why it's so bad.

1. Quizzes provide the wrong answers

When I took my second Unit Quiz, I was shocked to see that I had missed so many questions. Looking through the explanations, however, I realized that over 90% of what I missed was actually the books mistake! Take this for example:

Which political, economic, and cultural center is incorrectly linked with the early civilization?
A)Jerusalem - Hebrew
B)Meroe - Kush
C)Knossos - Shang
D)Caral - Norte Chico Peru
E)Ur - Sumer

Having just read the chapter, I knew it was C. What does the book say? "(D) p.31" I got to page 31...and oh look, it says that Caral was a city built in Norte Chico Peru. Now a quick search on Wikipedia, because I don't trust the book anymore, shows that Knossos is Minoan, on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean. Shang is Chinese, hello?! Keep in mind this is only one incorrect answer out of several not only in this one quiz, but spread out over all the other quizzes too. It's just plain confusing, and it sucks how I have to refer to Wikipedia of all sites to actually get my answer.

2. Grammar

No, I am not a grammar freak. Sure it takes away the professionalism of a book when you don't have proper grammar in your book, but that's not my point. In this book, the grammar actually interferes with my understanding. Take a look:

"Contemporaries of the Tang Chinese, Charlemagne in Europe, and the Abbasids, the Maya of southern Mexico and Central America created a Golden Age of American classicism" (p.118).
- Does the book expect me to find out where the Abbasids were located by myself?

"Besides being a commercial center, Teotihuacan was also a religious and political center. Laid out in a grid pattern, streets paralleled two great avenues that intersected each other in the heart of the city. Pyramids to the sun and moon...dominated either end of the central avenue" (p.117).
- The first sentence tells me that there are "two great avenues" and the second sentence tells me that there is a "central avenue." Is there only one central avenue, or do the two "great avenues," which cross through the center of the city, both count as "central avenues?" Just how many pyramids are there?

Now, the above might not seem like a big deal for you, but keep in mind that these are only a FEW mistakes out of TONS in the book; I can't possibly pick out all of them. You see how the two passages are found on pages next to one another? That's because the mistakes are truly EVERYWHERE.


Please do yourselves a favor and don't buy this book. Please.

Lots of mistakes
There are so many problems with this book I don't really know where to start. The mistakes of facts, buffoonish attempts at political correctness, omissions of important facts, opinions masquerading as facts, vagaries, grammatical errors, manipulations of semantics, and maudlin emotion (which has no place in a history book) that I can not list them all.

By the way I am reviewing the 2009, 3rd edition which I couldn't find listed on Amazon. I guess it doesn't really matter since many of the jumbled "facts" in this 2009 edition are 10 years out of date.

I actually trained as a language and literature teacher and have very little training in history.(I turned to the SAT and CLEP books because the few books geared toward the Praxis history test are crap.) I can only imagine how many more mistakes an actual historian would find in this book. I began to see the value of literature teachers becoming literate in history after a book called So Far From the Bamboo Grove made its way onto required school reading lists.

Again due to space and time limits I will only list some of the more egregious stupidisms in this test prep book:

1. "Further" is temporal and "farther" is spacial. "Between" two and "among" three or more.

2. "Huang `Ho'" is not pinyin and it is not the Mandarin, standard Putonghua dialect, that would be "Huang He." At the beginning the authors make a note about the difference between the Wade-Giles and the (pretty much standard) pinyin spellings, but they continue to confuse the two. Also Madame Mao's name is Jiang Qing, not Jian Qing. If you go looking for The Sinkiang on a modern map I doubt you will find it, as most standard maps use the pinyin, "Xinjiang."

3. The Cultural Revolution did not end in 1968. It began in 1966 and ended in 1976. The authors managed to get this correct in another part of the this book. Furthermore, it only ended because of Mao's death and it was not a "genocide" as the authors maintain, neither was the Khmer Rouge mass murder.

4. There is no index and thus no way to look up specific information. This is, after all, a review book.

5. It hasn't been called "Zaire" since 1997. For the last 12 years it has been called the Democratic Republic of Congo. Again, this is the 2009 edition. Many of the statistics given in this book stop circa 2000.

6. On page 406 it says: "In 1952 Fulgencio Batista assumed dictatorial control. Immediately, guerrillas, led by communist-trained Fidel Castro, who was backed by the Soviet Union, led a successful overthrow of Batisita and instituted a communist backed government in Cuba." The latter actually did not happen until 1959. So much for "immediately." Communism has basically been dead since the 1990s, but this book gives the impression that is its still a thriving threat.

7. Facts omitted: Several notable historical figures are absent. The authors are fond of using native terminology for concepts, but I noticed when it came to describing the Islamic conquests they shied away from using terms like "dhimmi." They also make it seem that Europeans were the first and only people to enslave black Africans failing to mention that Arabs started it a millennium before the Portuguese. Moreover, on page 433, in describing the Arabs' present day enslavement of black people in Sudan the authors refer to the victims as "rebellious African Christians." This tends to give the impression that they somehow deserve to be raped, enslaved, or murdered.

8. In spite of their political correctness the authors demonstrate a definite bias in favor of democracy. They give the impression that any government that isn't democratic is inherently backwards and evil. Democracy doesn't necessarily work for everyone (I would give examples, but they would be my personal biases) and some countries do just fine being ruled by royal families. The authors need to be more respecting and open minded.

9. Picasso was not a surrealist (page 426)! He invented the Cubist movement.

10. Gross oversimplifications and omissions of explanations: The flooding in Bangladesh is listed under the heading of "Genocide" and the authors fail to mention anything about one of its major causes; deforestation (page 433). In mentioning Afghan refugees fleeing to Pakistan there is no mention of the fact that, ironically, Pakistan has also caused a lot of the problems in Afghanistan.

11. I started becoming suspicious of a lot of the stats given in this book. So, I looked some of them up in multiple sources. On page 430 the population of China is give as 1.6 billion. The official number given by the Chinese is 1.3. Personally, I suspect the actual number is much higher, but suspicions don't have any place in a book of facts. The authors also put India's population at 1.3 billion. As of 2009 it was 1.17 billion.

12. Lack of coherency: At the very end two rambling paragraphs are devoted to genocide. Only here is Turkey's genocide against Armeniansmentioned. It is referred to as a "disposal" and no explanation is given. The last chapter is a redundant platitudinous potpourri, like some presidential speech. Out of all of the ills the 21st century is facing, again this book seems to stop at 2000, the booming illegal sex trafficking industry is not even mentioned.

13. As of 2007 there were 27 EU member countries. On page 434 of this 2009 edition it is listed as 17.

14. On page 393 it is claimed that Egypt was "A protectorate since 1914, it gained independence in 1922." Egypt did not gain true independence from Britain until 1956! According to Encyclopedia Britannica it was "dominated" by the British from 1882-1956 and an occupied protectorate from 1882-1922."

15 Arab/Israel conflict page 393. The authors mention that Jewish population in Palestine increased during the interwar period, but fail to mention that the Arab population increased as well. On page 394 mention of one million Arabs fleeing Palestine during war of 1948, but no mention of the 500,000 Jews expelled from Arab lands in response to the formation of the Jewish state.

16. On page 428 is a list of famous protest literature. Absent from this brief list are Dr. Zhivago, which was banned by the USSR, and 1984 by George Orwell. This might explain why so many people under 30 think that Big Brother is just a silly TV show.

17. Ambiguously worded test question. Incorrect answers? This is only of many:

Page 51. Question 18. Which of the following societies developed a lasting concept of monotheism?
(a) Hebrew
(b) Egyptian
(c) Non Nok Tha
(d) Chinese

According to the authors the correct answer is the "Egyptians." It is a theory that an Egyptian pharaoh came up with a short lived version of monotheism, hence, it wasn't "lasting." Therefore, I would credit the Hebrews with that. It not only "lasted" but spawn two other major religions. Moreover, Abraham, the first monotheist, pre-dates Akhenaten, the monotheistic sun god worshipper. So, this brings me back to the Hebrews.

18. Maudlin apologetics: The authors point out that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were "controversial" and that some liken them to Hitler's genocide of the Jews. This has to be the most non-sensical analogy in the entire book. I would like to challenge those who share the authors' view to take a few moments to consider how there lives might have been different if Germany or Japan had invented the atomic bomb first (they came pretty close)!

Absent from this ersatz text is any mention of Japan's Unit 731, the Rape of Nanjing, Mitsubishi `s (the auto manufacturer) brutal enslavement of American POWs or the Bataan Death March.

19. Those evil European barbarians: At every turn the authors let everyone know that X was invented by such-and-such centuries before the Europeans. Using a bit of inductive reason I maintain that if the Americas had not been conquered by Europeans it would have been Arabs or Chinese. They had the maritime technology before Europe. The Arabs controlled the overland routes to Asia and thus had no reason to go searching for a northwest passage. According to one theory the Chinese landed in North America in 1421. At any rate they were on their way to making in roads when suddenly there was a change of dynasty and the emperor took an isolationist attitude.

This is all you need to get an 800.
I have to disagree with the other poster. The closest thing that I'd had to an introduction to world history was an AP European History class my sophomore year. As I realized that I had to take SAT IIs, and I'm more of the humanities-type, I decided to self-study for World History. This, mind you, was during November of my Senior year.

Practically everything that I learned about African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Native American history came from this book. After reading it intensely for two weeks, I felt as though I had learned a ton. Needless to say, the European sections of the book were certainly equally as informative. Come late December, I found out that I had received an 800 on the test. Thanks Barron's!

Indeed, the text is jam-packed with details, but, unfortunately, the World History SAT II is a very detail-oriented test. If you want an 800 on the test, this is all you need.

WAY too much, and WAY too scattered
This book did not help me at all!I read, more or less skimmed, the entire thing. HUGE mistake!I ended up reusing my AP World book to prepare for the SAT.The ideas in here are way to concentrated on the details, a lot more than even what other Barron's does, and the information will never be tested on the SAT.
So, I decided at first this book might be a reference book for the future, if I need to look up something really quick, but as I read through I realized the thing is a piece of junk.NO ORGANIZATION, FALSE GENERALIZATIONS, VERY POOR CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT!
To make things worse, the tests in here are practically impossible (and it's not just me.I felt the actual thing is somewhere around 100 times easier), and there were mistakes to at least 5 or 6 questions.The explanations are short and useless, and because the book is so poorly organized it is difficult to search the correct information in the text!
If I could give one piece of advice to the authors, here it is:
Stop trying to show readers you can outcompete other review books on how much history you stuff here, and stop trying to show readers how creative you can get putting the history together.Give them what they want, and that's a book with a good SAT II review.
I am so disappointed with Barron's right around now.I am switching review books to Princeton.
... Read more

Product Description
Prepared for students by renowned professors and noted experts, here are the most extensive and proven study aids available, covering all the major areas of study in college curriculums. Each guide features: up-to-date scholarship; an easy-to-follow narrative outline form; specially designed and formatted pages; and much more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great Text for beginner history
It's easy to follow if your new to world history.A great layout that's easy to follow and gives you all the basis to get started in history.

Good Historical Writing
Excellent book.Well organized and, as one reviewer put it below, comprehensive.That is, it doesn't just concentrate on the West -- which, for the period concerned, largely means the western part of the European peninsula.Do I need to say more?

Great reference.
I bought this book while browsing at a Barnes and Noble. First of all, it's a great world-wide reference, looking at the history of *all* the inhabited continents, not just Europe. Though I am Euro-American, I am interested in what was going on outside of my ancestral background, in order to get the full context of mans' life on earth.
The writing is clear, informative, interesting, and concise. Easy to read. Can't ask for anything more. And the depth is just right, considering that I am not a history major.
And, you may laugh, but I love the way it's made, the construciton of it. Very light. Light paper in a well made paperback. I detest heavy-weighted books, which are no good for reading in bed or lying on a couch. In fact, I'm so pleased with it, I'm here at Amazon to buy its companion history, 'from 1500', before it goes out of print or something.

A Good Overview
This book is a good overview of World History.I had to purchase it for a college class ten years ago--I loved it and have kept it on hand ever since.It is factual and to-the-point, but is written well.I wouldrecommend this book to anyone who would like to see history in context... ... Read more

Product Description
Annual Editions is a series of over 65 volumes, each designed to provide convenient, inexpensive access to a wide range of current articles from some of the most respected magazines, newspapers, and journals published today. Annual Editions are updated on a regular basis through a continuous monitoring of over 300 periodical sources. The articles selected are authored by prominent scholars, researchers, and commentators writing for a general audience. The Annual Editions volumes have a number of common organizational features designed to make them particularly useful in the classroom: a general introduction; an annotated table of contents; a topic guide; an annotated listing of selected World Wide Web sites; and a brief overview for each section. Each volume also offers an online Instructor's Resource Guide with testing materials. Using Annual Editions in the Classroom is the general instructor's guide for our popular Annual Editions series and is available in print (0073301906) or online.Visit www.mhcls.com for more details. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Very pleased
Product was delivered in a timely fashion, and was as described. No problems with the seller or product.

A History of World Societies book
Purchase the book on line at Amazon, the book was in good condition just like the discription said.Very satisfied with the book I ordered and will order again.

Very interesting book
First, i received this book in excellent conditions. I have been impressed about the way history is written in it. Easy to understand and very specific issues about the world societies history. ... Read more

Product Description
Recent world history in a motivating format

Glencoe World History: Modern Times draws on the features of Glencoe World History to motivate students, help them understand the connections between recent world events and issues, and give them an appreciation for the interconnectedness of the world's regions and peoples. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

History ItemRefview
The item was in excellent condition as stated by the seller. It was promptly shipped as well. a good supplier. ... Read more

Product Description

With its brief, global (rather than West-centered) approach, World History in Brief, Sixth Edition, seeks to show how different civilizations developed in a global context.

Rather than overwhelm students, the chief goal of World History in Brief is to present the big picture, to facilitate comparison and assessment of change, and to highlight the major developments in the world's history. This text also emphasizes the global interactions of major civilizations so that students can compare and assess changes in the patterns of interaction and the impact of global forces such as migration and technology exchange. The compact size of this text gives instructors the opportunity to take advantage of additional supplementary readings.

Product Description

The World interweaves two stories—of our interactions with nature and with each other. The environment-centered story is about humans distancing themselves from the rest of nature and searching for a relationship that strikes a balance between constructive and destructive exploitation. The culture-centered story is of how human cultures have become mutually influential and yet mutually differentiating. Both stories have been going on for thousands of years. We do not know whether they will end in triumph or disaster.

Customer Reviews (3)

good but bent
Everything was great with the shipment, except the sender folded in half the cardboard tabs that the book included. It looks bad when you turn to them because there's a huge crease on those tabs.

Great style, quirky, skewed, original
First of all, whatever you think of the way he pursues history, the author is without question a great writer and a great mind, and this distinguishes the book from most of the history texts used secondary and university settings. It is entertaining and incisive. The typical textbook written by the committee/groupthink method pales in comparison with regard to style and sophistication.

However, like the previous reviewer, I found this book has issues as a comprehensive text. It aims at showing "global connections," but in being so global the reader gets a sense of fragmentation rather than cohesion in history. There are a multitude of original, quirky perspectives, each of which is interesting and thought provoking, if not skewed. The environmental angle is worked in througout, which is very informative and among the books chief strengths. I did a double-take, however, when Plato, one of the world's greatest philosophers, was passed off as nothing more than an spoiled aristocratic punk without examining his philosophy or its legacy, other than to stereotype it as "elitist."

The author accentuates much more of the empirical, scientific side of history than the normative and the philosophical, and one should not expect a lot of "deep thoughts" as much as clever connections. I would certainly *not* recommend this book as the central text for a class, not because it is poorly written or uninformative, but because as a whole it simply goes in too many directions and lacks a center of gravity, as it were, that pins down the entire narrative, despite the "themes" that the book does address. I think generally the book tried to do too much, and the author is at his best better exploring the quirkiness of narrower topics, as in his books about the Americas, the history of food, etc.

As an example of a well-honed narrative in a secondary-level history text, Daniel Boorstin's history of America is the best I have found.

Not really a history book
When I bought this book, I was expecting to obtain a high-quality world hisotry book.Instead, I got what is essentially a very long commentary.

The author does discuss a lot of history, but much of the discussion is opinion-based rather than fact-based.For instance, I was trying to read a section on World War I.The Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination triggered World War I, isn't even mentioned!Instead, the discussion on the world wars focuses on the general impact this era had on the various countries involved.

This book reminds me of a newspaper column.A columnist does incorporate a lot of relevant information into his/her column, but most of the article is spent discussing the facts, rather than giving the facts.

If you want a hardcore history book, you should look elsewhere. ... Read more