Synopses & Reviews
History is an encounter with the past, and the past is a history of encounters. Encounters in World History is designed to introduce students to both of these sorts of encounters. Using primary and visual sources, the authors employ the encounter theme as a fundamental organizing principle. By nesting sources in thematically integrated chapters, comparison and analysis of sources can be more substantive, while also providing more internal structure for instructors. At the same time, this is a world history reader, and it follows a chronological format. The material has been presented in such a way that instructors can craft their own courses, emphasizing the aspects they think most important. Chapters are organized so that the general theme is presented in a chapter introduction and then revisited in the separate introductions to specific readings. The readers can be used to highlight preferred eras, cultural zones, or themes, or a unique mixture of all three.
Table of Contents
Part I: Early Human Societies, to 600 BCE
Chapter 1: Doing History: Using Evidence to Unlock the Human Past
The Human Toolkit Upper Paleolithic Stone Tools and Habitation The Emergence of Art and Ritual Settlement, Trade, and Agriculture Chapter 2: Creation-Origin Myths and the Mythic Mode of Thought
A Creation Myth from Ancient Mesopotamia Reading:The Epic of Gilgamesh
Hindu Creation Myths Reading:The Rig Veda and The Law of Manu
Chapter 3: Kingship and Authority in the Ancient World
Kingship in Ancient Mesopotamia Reading: Code of Hammurabi
Kingship in Ancient Assyria Reading: Assyrian Advice to a Prince
Kingship in Israel Reading: 1 Samuel
Kingship in India
Reading: The Ramayana Kingship in China Reading: The Instructions of Yi (The Mandate of Heaven)
Part II: Foundation Cultures; 600 BCE to 300 CE
Chapter 4: Individual Ethics and Social Repsonsibility
The Chinese Tradition The Confucian Tradition Reading: Confucius, Analects
Lao Tzu and Taosim Reading: Lao Tzu, Tao te ching
Han Fei Tzu and Legalism Reading: Han Fei Tzu, The Five Vermins
The Greek Tradition Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
Reading: Pericles Funeral Oration
Sophocles, Antigone
Reading: Sophocles, Antigone The Indian Tradition The Bhagavad Gita
Reading: The Bhagavad Gita Buddhism
Reading: The Teachings of the Buddha Southwest Asian Traditions Persia: Zarathustra, Sayings of the Prophet Reading: Zarathustra, Yasnas
The Hebrews: Second Isaiah
Reading: The Book of Isaiah. Chapter 5: Empires, War, and Order
The Chinese Tradition Conducting Warfare Reading: Sun Tzu, The Art of Warfare
Interpreting Warfare Reading: Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian
The Greek Tradition Reading: Tyrtaeus, Praise of the Virtuosity of the Citizen Soldier
Reading: Archilochus, Elegy
The Roman Tradition The Benefits of Warfare Reading: Res Gestae Divi Augusti (The Achievements of the Divine Augustus)
Maintaining Imperial Rule Reading: Josephus, The Jewish Wars
The Indian Tradition Reading: Asoka, Rock and Pillar Edicts
Chapter 6: Women in the Ancient World
Women in The Homeric World: The Odyssey
Reading: Homer, The Odyssey A Public Protest Demonstration by Elite Roman Women
Reading: Livy, History of Rome, BOOK XXXIV I-H Women and Confucian Values in China
Reading: Ban Zhao, Lessons for Women A Martyred Christian Woman in Roman North Africa
Reading: The Martyrdom of Perpetua, A Christian Woman in Roman North Africa Women in Classical Hindu Culture
Reading: Code of Manu Part III: The Traditional World, 300 CE to 1100 CE
Chapter 7: Encounters with the "Other": Nomads and Sedentary Folk
Describing the Other Reading: Han Shu: Han Chinese Descriptions of the Xiongnu
A Roman View of the Huns Reading: Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae
Byzantium and Barbarians Reading: Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio
Islam and the Mongol Scourge Reading: Ibn al-Athir, Description of Mongol Conquests
A Venetian Visits the Mongols Reading: Marco Polo, Travels
Chapter 8: Encountering Transcendent Reality: The Rise of the Salvation Religions
Mahayana Buddhism
Reading: The Lotus Sutra Devotional Hinduism
Reading: The Vishnu Purana Christianity
Reading: The New Testament Islam
Reading: Quran
Chapter 9: Conversion Experiences: the Spread of Salvation Religions
The Spread of Buddhism Buddhism in China
Reading: Mou Tzu, the Disposition of Error Reading: the Platform of Scripture of the Sixth Patriarch Buddhism in Japan
Reading: Nihongi, Book XXV The Spread of Christianity The Latin Church in Western Europe
Reading: Gregory Bishop of Tours, History of the Franks The Greek Church in Eastern Europe Reading: Povest'vremennykh let: The Russian Primary Chronicle The Spread of Islam Conquest and Conversion in the Early Caliphate
Reading: The Pact of Umar Travel, Trade and Conversion in the Islamic World
Reading: Ibn Battuta, A Donation to Those Intersted in Curiosities Chapter 10: The Artist Encounters Life: Literature and Social Values
Elite Values in Heian Japan
Reading: Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, "The Picture Competition" The Arabian Nights and Islamic Culture
Reading: The Story of Ali Cogia, a Merchant of Bagdad Feudal Values in Medieval Western Europe: The Song of Roland
Reading: The Song of Roland Elite Values in Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales
Reading: Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales Part IV: Toward a Global World, 1100 CE to 1500 CE
Chapter 11: The Encounter Between War and Religion
Christianity and War
Reading: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae
Christian Accounts of the First Crusade Reading: Pope Urban Preaches the First Crusade, 1095
Reading: The Finding of the Holy Lance at Antioch, 1098
Reading: Battle with Kerbogha Outside Antioch, 1098
Reading: The Siege and Capture of Jerusalem, 1099
Islam and War
Reading: The Quran
Muslim Accounts of the First Crusade Reading: Ibn al-Athir, The Complete History
Buddhism and Warfare Reading: The Tale of Heike Chapter 12: Land, Law, and Lordship
Byzantium Regulating New Settlements Reading: Farmers Law
Song China Proposals for Land Reform Reading: Su Hsün, The Land SystemA Dissenting View
Reading:Wang An-shih, Memorial on the Crop Loans Measure
Kamakura Japan A Fourteenth-Century Law Primer
Sata Mirensho Western Europe Labor Law, Taxes, and the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381 Reading: The Ordinance of Laborers, 1349
Reading: The Peasants Revolt of 1381
Chapter 13: Intellectual Traditions
Song China Chu Hsi and the Neo-Confucian Synthesis Reading: Chu Hsi, Further Reflection on Things at Hand
Medieval Western Europe Thomas Aquinas and the Scholastic Synthesis
Reading: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae Islamic North Africa Ibn Khaldun and Muslim Rationalism
Reading: Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah Chapter 14: Illness and Therapy in the Plague Years
The Plague in Medieval Europe
A Medical Explanation
Reading: The Report of the Paris Medical Faculty A Religious Explanation
Reading: William Edendon, Vox in Rama Reactions to the Plague
Reading: Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron Reading: Jean de Venette, Chronicle of Jean de Venette Art from the Plague Years
The Plague in the Arab-Islamic World
Medical Explanations
Reading: Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah Religious Explanations of the Plague
Reading: Sahih al-Bukhari Reactions to the Plague
Reading: Ahmad al-Maqrizi, The Plague in Cairo Reading: Ibn Battuta, Voyages Chapter 15: Expanding Global Encounters in the 14th - 16th Centuries
Ibn Battutas Travels in the Islamic World
Reading: Ibn Battuta, My Travel The Chinese Naval Expeditions of Zheng He
Reading: Zheng He, Inscription of World World Voyages Vasco da Gamas Voyage to Africa and India
Reading: A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama Columbus First Voyage to the “New World”
Reading: Christopher Columbus, Prologue to the Logbook of the First Voyage Reading: Christopher Columbus, Letter Describing His First Voyage.