TraditionsandEncounters: A Brief Global History, the highly-anticipated concise version of Bentley and Ziegler's best-selling survey text, provides a streamlined account of the cultures and interactions that have shaped world history. With an engaging narrative, strong thematic approach, visual appeal, and solid pedagogy, it offers enhanced flexibility and affordability without sacrificing the features that have made the complete text a favorite among instructors and students alike.

Jerry H. Bentley is professor of history at the University of Hawai`i and editor of the Journal of World History. His research on the religious, moral, and political writings of Renaissance humanists led to the publication of Humanists and Holy Writ: New Testament Scholarship in the Renaissance (Princeton, 1983) and Politics and Culture in Renaissance Naples (Princeton, 1987). More recently, his research has concentrated on global history and particularly on processes of cross-cultural interaction. His book Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York, 1993) examines processes of cultural exchange and religious conversion before the modern era, and his pamphlet Shapes of World History in Twentieth-Century Scholarship (Washington, D.C., 1996) discusses the historiography of world history. His current interests include processes of cross-cultural interaction and cultural exchanges in modern times.Hebert F. Ziegler is an associate professor of history at the University of Hawai'i. He has taught courses on world history for the last 19 years and is currently the director of the world history program at the University of Hawai'i. For several years, he also served as the book review editor of the 'Journal of World History'. His interest in twentieth-century European social and political history led to the publication of 'Nazi Germany's New Aristocracy (1990)'. He is at present working on a study that explores uncharted aspects of German society, especially the cultural manifestations of humor and satire in the Nazi era. His other current research project focuses on the application of complexity theory to a comparative study of societies and their internal dynamics.Heather Streets is Associate Professor of History at Washington State University, where she teaches World History at the graduate and undergraduate levels. She received her Ph.D. in the History of the British Empire at Duke University in 1998. She is director of the WSU History departments World History Ph.D. program and is co-editor of World History Connected: the Ejournal of Learning and Teaching. Recent publications include Martial Races: The Military, Race, and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857-1914, published in 2004 by Manchester University Press.

PART I: THE EARLY COMPLEX SOCIETIES, 3500 TO 500 B.C.E.

CHAPTER 1 THE FOUNDATIONS OF COMPLEX SOCIETIES

THE TRANSITION TO AGRICULTURE

THE QUEST FOR ORDER

THE FORMATION OF A COMPLEX SOCIETY AND SOPHISTICATED CULTURAL TRADITIONS

THE BROADER INFLUENCE OF MESOPOTAMIAN SOCIETY

THE INDO-EUROPEAN MIGRATIONS

CHAPTER 2: EARLY AFRICAN SOCIETIES AND THE BANTU MIGRATIONS

EARLY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY IN AFRICA

The FORMATION OF COMPLEX SOCIETIES AND SOPHISTICATED CULTURAL TRADITIONS

BANTU MIGRATIONS AND EARLY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

CHAPTER 3: EARLY SOCIETIES IN SOUTH AND EAST ASIA

HARAPPAN SOCIETY

THE INDOEUROPEAN MIGRATIONS AND EARLY ARYAN INDIA

RELIGION IN THE VEDIC AGE

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN EARLY CHINA

SOCIETY AND FAMILY IN ANCIENT CHINA

EARLY CHINESE WRITING AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

ANCIENT CHINA AND THE LARGER WORLD

CHAPTER 4: EARLY SOCIETIES IN THE AMERICAS AND OCEANIA

EARLY SOCIETIES OF MESOAMERICA

EARLY SOCIETIES OF SOUTH AMERICA

EARLY SOCIETIES OF OCEANIA

PART II: THE FORMATION OF CLASSICAL SOCIETIES, 500 B.C.E. TO 500 C.E.

CHAPTER 5: THE EMPIRES OF PERSIA THE RISE AND FALL OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRES

THE ACHAEMENID EMPIRE

IMPERIAL SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

RELIGIONS OF SALVATION IN CLASSICAL PERSIAN SOCIETY

CHAPTER 6: THE UNIFICATION OF CHINA

IN SEARCH OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORDER

THE UNIFICATION OF CHINA

FROM ECONOMIC PROSPERITY TO SOCIAL DISORDER

CHAPTER 7: STATE, SOCIETY, AND THE QUEST FOR SALVATION IN INDIA

THE FORTUNES OF EMPIRE IN CLASSICAL INDIA

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS

RELIGIONS OF SALVATION IN CLASSICAL INDIA

CHAPTER 8: MEDITERRANEAN SOCIETY UNDER THE GREEKS AND ROMANS

EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF GREEK SOCIETY

GREECE AND THE LARGER WORLD

THE FRUITS OF TRADE: GREEK ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

THE CULTURAL LIFE OF CLASSICAL GREECE

FROM KINGDOM TO REPUBLIC

FROM REPUBLIC TO EMPIRE

ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN THE ROMAN MEDITERRANEAN

THE COSMOPOLITAN MEDITERRANEAN

CHAPTER 9: CROSS-CULTURAL EXCHANGES ON THE SILK ROADS

LONG-DISTANCE TRADE AND THE SILK ROADS NETWORK

CULTURAL AND BIOLOGICAL EXCHANGES ALONG THE SILK ROADS

CHINA AFTER THE HAN DYNASTY

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

PART III: THE POST-CLASSICAL ERA, 500 TO 1000 C.E.

Chapter 10: THE COMMONWEALTH OF BYZANTIUM

THE EARLY BYZANTINE EMPIRE

BYZANTINE ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

CLASSICAL HERITAGE AND ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY

THE INFLUENCE OF BYZANTIUM IN EASTERN EUROPE

Chapter 11: THE EXPANSIVE REALM OF ISLAM

A PROPHET AND HIS WORLD

THE EXPANSION OF ISLAM

ECONOMY AND SOCIETY OF THE EARLY ISLAMIC WORLD

ISLAMIC VALUES AND CULTURAL EXCHANGES

Chapter 12: THE RESURGENCE OF EMPIRE IN EAST ASIA

THE RESTORATION OF CENTRALIZED IMPERIAL RULE IN CHINA

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF TANG AND SONG CHINA

CULTURAL CHANGE IN TANG AND SONG CHINA

CHINESE INFLUENCE IN EAST ASIA

Chapter 13: INDIA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN BASIN

ISLAMIC AND HINDU KINGDOMS

PRODUCTION AND TRADE IN THE INDIAN OCEAN BASIN

THE MEETING OF HINDU AND ISLAMIC TRADITIONS

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIAN SOCIETY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Chapter 14: THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHRISTIAN SOCIETY IN WESTERN EUROPE

THE QUEST FOR POLITICAL ORDER

EARLY MEDIEVAL SOCIETY

THE FORMATION OF CHRISTIAN EUROPE

PART IV: An Age of Cross Cultural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 C.E.

Chapter 15: NOMADIC EMPIRES AND EURASIAN INTEGRATION

TURKISH MIGRATIONS AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION

THE MONGOL EMPIRES

AFTER THE MONGOLS

Chapter 16: STATES AND SOCIETIES OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

EFFECTS OF EARLY AFRICAN MIGRATIONS

ISLAMIC KINGDOMS AND EMPIRES

AFRICAN SOCIETY AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 17: WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF REGIONAL STATES

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

EUROPEAN CHRISTIANITY DURING THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES

THE MEDIEVAL EXPANSION OF EUROPE

Chapter 18: WORLDS APART: BEYOND THE EASTERN HEMISPHERE

STATES AND EMPIRES IN MESOAMERICA AND NORTH AMERICA

STATES AND EMPIRES IN SOUTH AMERICA

THE SOCIETIES OF OCEANIA

Chapter 19: REACHING OUT: CROSS-CULTURAL INTERACTIONS

LONG-DISTANCE TRADE AND TRAVEL

CRISIS AND RECOVERY

EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION