Synopses & Reviews
Connections: A World History focuses on the connections within and between societies, combining a uniquely comprehensive and consistent map program with a strong pedagogical support and a narrative that students will actually read.
Written by historians with years of experience teaching world history, Connections presents both a global and regional perspective, so students can appreciate both the diversity and connectedness of human societies. Concise chapters and a clear engaging narrative make the text accessible to a wide range of students. In addition, because students struggle with geography, the book includes significantly more maps than other texts—in most cases twice as many—and great care was taken to make them consistent and exceptionally clear. In each caption, the authors have provided guidance for reading the map and for connecting it to the surrounding text. To further help students succeed, marginal notes highlight major connections for easy review, and pronunciation guides appear after difficult names. Lastly, compelling vignettes introduce the themes of each chapter, concise excerpts from relevant primary sources allow students to hear the voices of the past, and an extensive chapter review section is designed to help students test themselves and succeed in this difficult course.
Review
"History texts are not written for historians; they are written for students. Sometimes authors lose sight of this, but these authors have not."
--Connie Brand, Meridian Community College
“This text very carefully demonstrates the complex interactions between civilizations while emphasizing the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of individual civilizations. I’ve never encountered a text that blends these two themes more effectively.”
~ Robert McCormick, University of South Carolina, Spartanburg
“One great strength of showing connections is that it helps make history come alive for students.”
~ David John Marley, Vanguard University
“I thought the connections were very well done. It was easy to read and contain all of the relevant information without being dull. The maps were very helpful as were the important facts off to the side.”
~ Tracey Provost, Middle Georgia College
“The text covers well the interaction of civilizations and gives the students the sense that events and civilizations do not exist in a vacuum. This is precisely the approach that I use in my classes.”
~ Gregort Havrilcsak, University of Michigan, Flint
“I found the broader connections presented here to be accurate, easily accessible, and meaningful for students. This is one of the strong points of the text.”
~ Anthony Gulig, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater"
The progression of maps within each chapter is incredibly well thought out and integrated. The maps are beautiful and carefully done, and the number of maps included in each chapter is far more than in a typical world history textbook."
---Linda Bregstein Scherr, Mercer County Community College
“The maps are vivid. The show connections, trace routes in a direct contextual line with the text. They serve as an ancillary for the text, not as a distraction.”
~ John H. Frederick, South Louisiana Community College
“I think this book would be effective with a range of my students, because of its clear writing and nice narrative flow.”
~ Jonathan Ablard, Ithaca College
“The best part of the book is how well it flows. Sometimes I feel like I am reading a story book rather than a textbook, but I am still learning history…I think the end-of-chapter material puts everything into perspective. It basically sums some lose ends up that completes your knowledge of history.”
~ Katrina Slaski, student at Le Moyne College
“I like that the history textbook has many maps and very specific information on all topics. This textbook is easier to follow [than other textbooks]. I like that maps are easy to read and contain details on the side.”
~ Lejor Custic, student at Le Moyne College
Synopsis
Connections: A World History focuses on the connections within and between societies, combining a uniquely comprehensive and consistent map program with a strong pedagogical support and a narrative that students will actually read.
Written by historians with years of experience teaching world history, Connections presents both a global and regional perspective, so students can appreciate both the diversity and connectedness of human societies. Concise chapters and a clear engaging narrative make the text accessible to a wide range of students. Because students struggle with geography, the book includes significantly more maps than other texts–in most cases twice as many–and great care was taken to make them consistent and exceptionally clear. In each caption, the authors have provided guidance for reading the map and for connecting it to the surrounding text. To further help students succeed, marginal notes highlight major connections for easy review, and pronunciation guides appear after difficult names. Compelling vignettes introduce the themes of each chapter, concise excerpts from relevant primary sources allow students to hear the voices of the past, and an extensive chapter review section is designed to help students test themselves and succeed in this difficult course.
About the Author
Edward H. Judge and John W. Langdon are professors of history at Le Moyne College, where they have team-taught for the last sixteen years a two-semester world history course for first-year students and courses on modern global history for upper-level students. Ed earned his doctorate at the University of Michigan and spent a year in the USSR as an IREX scholar. John earned his doctorate at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Public Affairs, where he was a National Defense Fellow. Ed has taught at Le Moyne since 1978, was the College's Scholar of the Year in 1994, and was awarded the J. C. Georg Endowed Professorship in 1997. John has taught at Le Moyne since 1971, directed its Honors Program, and was awarded the O'Connell Distinguished Teaching Professorship in 1996. Each has been named the College's Teacher of the Year and has chaired its Department of History. They have written or edited eight books: three in collaboration with each other, three as individuals, and two in collaboration with other scholars. They love teaching world history, especially to students of diverse backgrounds and interests, and they derive great joy from infecting their students with a passion and enthusiasm for the study of the human past.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Emergence of Human Societies, to 3000 B.C.E.
Chapter 2 Early Societies of West Asia and North Africa, to 500 B.C.E.
Chapter 3 Societies and Beliefs of Early India, to 300 C.E.
Chapter 4 The Origins of the Chinese Empire, to 220 C.E.
Chapter 5 Early American Societies: Connection and Isolation, 20,000 B.C.E.-1500 C.E.
Chapter 6 The Persian Connection: Its Impact and Influences, 2000 B-C.E-637 C.E.
Chapter 7 Classical Greece and Its Conflict with Asia, 2000-30 B.C.E.
Chapter 8 The Romans Connect the Mediterranean World, 753 B.C.E-284 C.E.
Chapter 9 Germanic Societies and the Emergence of the Christian West, 100-1100 C.E.
Chapter 10 The Byzantine World, 284-1240
Chapter 11 Origins and Expansion of Islam, 100-750
Chapter 12 Religion and Diversity in the Transformation of Southern Asia, 711-1400
Chapter 13 African Societies and the Impact of Islam, 1500 B.C.E — 1500 C.E.
Chapter 14 The Evolution and Expansion of East Asian Societies, 220-1240 C.E.
Chapter 15 Nomadic Conquests and Eurasian Connections, 100-1400
Chapter 16 The Resurgence of the Christian West 1050-1530
Chapter 17 Culture and Conflict in the Great Islamic Empires, 1071-1707
Chapter 18 The Aztec and Inca Empires, 1300-1550
Chapter 19 Global Exploration and Global Empires, 1400-1700
Chapter 20 The West in an Age of Religious Conflict and Global Expansion, 1500-1650
Chapter 21 The Search for Stability in East Asia, 1300-1800
Chapter 22 Southern Asia and the Global Shift in Wealth and Power, 1500-1800
Chapter 23 Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1400-1800
Chapter 24 Absolutism and Enlightenment in Europe, 1600-1763
Chapter 25 Russia’s Eurasian Empire: Convergence of East and West, 1300-1800
Chapter 26 The Atlantic Revolutions, 1750-1830
Chapter 27 Industry, Ideology, and their Global Impact, 1700-1914
Chapter 28 Nation-Building in North and South America, 1789-1914
Chapter 29 Confrontation and Adaptation in Eastern and Southern Asia, 1770-1914
Chapter 30 The Transformation of West Asia and Africa, 1800-1914
Chapter 31 The Great War and the Russian Revolutions, 1890-1918
Chapter 32 Anxieties and Ideologies of the Interwar Years, 1918-1939
Chapter 33 World War II and the Holocaust, 1933-1945
Chapter 34 East Versus West: Cold War and It’s Global Impact, 1945-Present
Chapter 35 The Upheavals of Asia, 1945-Present
Chapter 36 Reform and Revolution in Latin America, 1914-2008
Chapter 37 Post-Colonial Challenges in Africa and the Middle East, 1939-Present
Glossary