An intellectually and stylistically unified overview of world history, this book draws a global portrait of the human past showing how each part of the world fits into the overall balance in each successive age.
It shows how, in succeeding ages different societies achieved unusual creativity and power and then impelled or compelled those around them (and in time, across long distances) to alter their accustomed style of life to take account of the new things and ideas that had come to their attention. It focuses on the dominance of the West in the last five centuries, but illuminates the influence and leadership before that in separate eras of world history of China, the Middle East, India, the Ancient Mediterranean, and the Ancient Middle East .
= VOLUME I
1. In the Beginning.
2. River Valley Civilizations: 3500 to 1500 B.C.
3. The Rise of Civilizations on Rain-Watered Land: 2000
to 1200 B.C.
Illustrated Essay: The Use of Plants and Animals in
4. Empire and Religion in the Middle East: 1200 to 500
5. The Greek Style of Civilization: to 500 B.C.E.
6. The Indian Style of Civilization: to 500 B.C.E.
7. The Chinese Style of Civilization: to 200 B.C.E.
Epilogue: Part I - The State of the World: 500 B.C.
II. EURASIAN CULTURAL BALANCE: 500 B.C.E. TO A.D.
8. The Classical Mediterranean World and Its Expansion:
500 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.
9. Civilized Religions and Barbarian Invasions: 200 B.C.E.
to 600 C.E.
10. Islam and India: 600 to 1200.
11. The Far East and the Americas: 600 to 1200.
12. Europe: 500 to 1200.
Illustrated Essay: Diseases and Their Effects on Human
13. Steppe Peoples and the Civilizations of Eurasia: 1200
14. Western Europe: 1200 to 1500.
Epilogue: Part II: The State of the World: 1500.
= VOLUME TWO
III. THE FAR WEST CHALLENGES THE WORLD: 1500 TO 1850.
15. The Great European Discoveries: 1480 to 1550.
16. Europe's Self-Transformation: 1500 to 1650.
17. The World Beyond Europe: 1500 to 1700.
18. Europe's Old Regime: 1650 to 1789.
19. World Reactions to Europe's Expansion: 1700 to 1850.
20. The Democratic and Industrial Revolutions: 1776 to 1850.
Illustrated Essay: Breakthroughs in the Use of Energy and
Epilogue: Part III: The State of the World: 1850.
IV. BEGINNINGS OF WORLD COSMOPOLITANISM: FROM 1850.
21. The Decisive Years: 1850 to 1865.
22. Europe: 1850 to 1914.
23. World Reactions to Europe's Achievements: 1850 to 1914.
Illustrated Essay: Transportation and Communication. 24. World Wars of the Twentieth Century: 1914 to 1945.
Illustrated Essay: World Views. 25. The World Since 1945: Public Affairs.
26. Thought and Culture: 1914 to the Present.
Epilogue: Part IV: The State of the World Today.