Synopses & Reviews
Traditions and Encounters: 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.
About the Author
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.Herbert 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 Salter 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 department's World History Ph.D. program, and director of Washington State University's undergraduate World Civilizations program. She served as an area editor for the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World, published in 2008 by Oxford University Press. Recent publications include Martial Races: The Military, Race, and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857-1914, published in 2004 by Manchester University Press. Her forthcoming book (co-authored with Trevor Getz), Imperialism in the Modern World, will be published by Pearson in 2010.
Table of Contents
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