World Past to World Present: A Sketch of Global History provides an unusually brief and present-focused treatment of human history beginning with the advent of agriculture and ending with considerable attention to world history developments since World War II. This accessible and concise text covers a very real but selected history of the human experience. The book emphasizes the importance of contacts and exchanges among different cultures and economies up to contemporary globalization, and consistent attention is devoted to comparisons among major regional societies. The characteristics of agricultural, and later industrial, societies help establish a larger framework within the text. Peter N. Stearns works to connect past developments to contemporary global patterns and problems, explicitly balancing major changes with significant continuities. Key features include: A "no-frills" approach to an expansive stretch of human history Encourages students to understand the importance of studying history by focusing on aspects of the past that are particularly useful in assessing the current state of the world Invites instructors to combine the advantages of systematic summary coverage with varied supplementary reading Nine maps illustrate important movements and civilizations throughout the world. Truly international in coverage, this book has been specifically designed as a core text for Global History survey courses.

Discover the world records that define our history and jump headfirst into the past using scientific data that reveals accurate and insightful answers to life’s biggest questions. What was history's biggest empire? Or the tallest building of the ancient world? What was the plumbing like in medieval Byzantium? The average wage in the Mughal Empire? Where did scientific writing first emerge? What was the bloodiest ever ritual human sacrifice? ​ We are used to thinking about history in terms of stories. Yet we understand our own world through data: cast arrays of statistics that reveal the workings of our societies. In Figuring Out the Past, radical historians Peter Turchin and Dan Hoyer dive into the numbers that reveal the true shape of the past, drawing on their own Seshat project, a staggeringly ambitious attempt to log every data point that can be gathered for every society that has ever existed. This book does more than tell the story of humanity: it shows you the big picture, by the numbers.

Historians go to great lengths to avoid confronting discontinuity, searching for explanations as to why such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq, and the introduction of the euro logically develop from what came before. Moved by the Past radically breaks with this tradition of predating the past, incites us to fully acknowledge the discontinuous nature of discontinuities, and proposes to use the fact that history is propelled by unforeseeable leaps and bounds as a starting point for a truly evolutionary conception of history. Integrating research from a variety of disciplines, Eelco Runia identifies two modes of being "moved by the past": regressive and revolutionary. In the regressive mode, the past may either overwhelm us—as in nostalgia—or provoke us to act out what we believe to be solidly dead. When we are moved by the past in a revolutionary sense, we may be said to embody history: we burn our bridges behind us and create accomplished facts we have no choice but to live up to. In the final thesis of Moved by the Past, humans energize their own evolution by habitually creating situations ("catastrophes" or sublime historical events) that put a premium on mutations. This book therefore illuminates how every now and then we chase ourselves away from what we were and force ourselves to become what we are. Proposing a simple yet radical change in perspective, Runia profoundly reorients how we think and theorize about history.

World History: Journeys from Past to Present uses common themes to present an integrated and comprehensive survey of human history from its origins to the present day. By weaving together thematic and regional perspectives in coherent chronological narratives, Goucher and Walton transform the overwhelming sweep of the human past into a truly global story that is relevant to the contemporary issues of our time. Revised and updated throughout, the second edition of this innovative textbook combines clear chronological progression with thematically focused chapters divided into six parts as follows: PART 1. EMERGENCE (Human origins to 500 CE) PART 2. ORDER (1 CE-1500 CE) PART 3. CONNECTIONS (500-1600 CE) PART 4. BRIDGING WORLDS (1300-1800 CE) PART 5. TRANSFORMING LIVES (1500-1900) PART 6. FORGING A GLOBAL COMMUNITY (1800- Present) The expanded new edition features an impressive full-color design with a host of illustrations, maps and primary source excerpts integrated throughout. Chapter opening timelines supply context for the material ahead, while end of chapter questions and annotated additional resources provide students with the tools for independent study. Each chapter and part boasts introductory and summary essays that guide the reader in comprehending the relevant theme. In addition, the companion website offers a range of resources including an interactive historical timeline, an indispensable study skills section for students, tips for teaching and learning thematically, and PowerPoint slides, lecture material and discussion questions in a password protected area for instructors. This textbook provides a basic introduction for all students of World History, incorporating thematic perspectives that encourage critical thinking, link to globally relevant contemporary issues, and stimulate further study.

This is one of the most remarkable Holocaust memoirs ever written. It is the story of a young man who endured the full brunt of Nazi horror. He lived to tell the tale not only of the Lodz ghetto and Auschwitz-Birkenau (where his parents persished in the gas chambers) but of a further three concentration camps - Althammer, Dora and Bergen-Belsen. He survived all of it, but his brother was murdered, as were six million of his people.Abraham Biderman has written his book to keep a promise to his mother. 'Remember, remember what they did to us!' were her last words to him. In turn, he hopes that The World of My Past will serve as a legacy for future generations to learn about and remember what happened to humanity in the middle of the twentieth century. The World of My Past is a riveting personal testimony and a searing indictment of those who perpetrated and acquiesced in some of the most hideous events in human history.COMMENTS ON THE WORLD OF MY PAST'Unbearably moving ... a powerful, touching and truthful account.'Barry Jones'Powerful and profoundly disturbing ... As do the accounts of such writers as Primo Levi, Elie Weisel and Samuel Pisar, so too The World of My Past overwhelms me with the tragedy and horror of it all.'Sir Zelman Cowen'A vivid, haunting testimony ... His eloquence, dignity and clarity shine through the torment of a journey that no-one must make again.'Ramona Koval'A work of immense power ... in all my reading, I know of few works that better bring that time to life.'Phillip AdamsEXTRACT FROM THE WORLD OF MY PASTStaring at my mother, I thought that the years of suffering has not completely eroded the beauty of her face. For the most part, however, my mind was in turmoil. I was in panic and fear. I could not believe - nor could I disbelieve - that within a few hours none of us would be amongst the living. What goes on in this world? Why must we die? My father stood near me, silent, with an empty expression on his face, staring aimlessly into space through the little window crossed with barbed wire. He looked tired. His face bore the marks of starvation and pain. The Polish peasants were out in the fields, and they greeted the train with festive smiles. It almost seemed as though they knew we were coming, as though they were expecting us. They had certainly seen trains like this before. Some of them made hostile, offensive gestures at us. Their children were hopping about and clapping their hands with joy. To this day I wonder how they could. They knew who we were and where the Germans were taking us. They knew what would happen once we reached our destination. What sort of people could enjoy the sight of such a train? What sort of people enjoy the sight of a funeral? ...The trip was long and arduous as the death train, with a repetitious clatter of its wheels, sped into the dark, rhythmically seeming to warn us of our impending fate. After countless hours travelling in the never-ending night, we passed a little railway station, unattended and scarcely lit. It looked unreal. A lonely kiosk with chocolate boxes on display looked like theatre props on a stage. A sign appeared in big black letters on a white oblong board with a black border: Auschwitz... ...There was a sudden squealing of metal against metal as the brakes went into action; and a banging of heavy steel as the buffers struck one another, bringing the train to an abrupt halt, throwing the entire cargo off balance once again. Turmoil and commotion. Exhausted, we fell one on top of the other. It was very dark and very silent outside. Fear filled my heart, causing the blood to rush to my head and hammer at my temples. My senses sharpened, like an animal in the stockyard smelling blood and death. The wagon was filled with panic. Only lamenting and mourning broke the silence of the night.

A description of the first animals, like the mastodon, & how they evolved during the Ice Age.