Synopses & Reviews
Connect students to the stories of history. Connect students to the experience of history. Connect students to success in history. At McGraw-Hill, we have dedicated the past few years to deepening our understanding of student and instructor experience. Employing a wide array of research tools including surveys, focus groups, and ethnographic studies, we've identified areas in need of improvement to provide an opportunity for greater learning and teaching experiences. The fifth edition of Traditions and Encounters is a result of this.
Traditions and Encounters also has a rich history of firsts: the first world history text to take a truly global perspective on the past; the first to emphasize connections among cultures; the first to combine twin themes with a seven-part framework, making the huge story of world history more manageable to both teach and learn.
Now Traditions and Encounters becomes the first truly interactive world history program: one that marries groundbreaking adaptive diagnostics and interactivities with a captivating narrative and engaging visuals, creating a unique learning environment that propels greater student success and better course results. Instructors gain insight into students' engagement and understanding as students develop a base of knowledge and construct critical thinking skills. Chapter-opening vignettes and a lively narrative keep students turning the page while the adaptive questioning for each chapter and the personalized study plan for each individual student help students prepare for class discussions and course work.
With its hallmark of twin themes, Traditions and Encounters continues to tell the story of the cultures and interactions that have shaped world history, while adding redesigned maps, new primary sources, and new chapter- and part-level features that strengthen connections and prompt students to analyze the events and themes in order to build a greater understanding of the past and an appreciation of history's influence on the present. Students are no longer simply reading; they are reading, interacting, and engaging in a visual, auditory, and hands-on learning experience.
Give students an experience. Improve course participation and performance. Experience Traditions and Encounters, and experience success.
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.
Table of Contents
PART I. The Early Complex Societies, 3500 to 500 B.C.E. CHAPTER 1. Before History CHAPTER 2. Early Societies in Southwest Asia and the Indo-European Migrations CHAPTER 3. Early African Societies and the Bantu Migrations CHAPTER 4. Early Societies in South Asia CHAPTER 5. Early Society in East Asia CHAPTER 6. Early Societies in the Americas and Oceania CHAPTER 7. The Empires of Persia CHAPTER 8. The Unification of China CHAPTER 9. State, Society, and the Quest for Salvation in India CHAPTER 10. Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase PART II. The Formation of Classical Societies, 500 B.C.E. to 500 C.E. CHAPTER 11. Mediterranean Society: The Roman Phase CHAPTER 12. Cross-Cultural Exchanges on the Silk Roads PART III. The Postclassical Era, 500 to 1000 C.E. CHAPTER 13. The Expansive Realm of Islam CHAPTER 14. The Resurgence of Empire in East Asia CHAPTER 15. India and the Indian Ocean Basin CHAPTER 16. The Two Worlds of Christendom PART IV. The Acceleration of Cross-Cultural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 C.E. CHAPTER 17. Nomadic Empires and Eurasian Integration CHAPTER 18. States and Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa CHAPTER 19. The Increasing Influence of Europe CHAPTER 20. Worlds Apart: The Americas and Oceania CHAPTER 21. Reaching Out: Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cultural Interaction PART V. The Origins of Global Interdependence, 1500 to 1800 CHAPTER 22. Transoceanic Encounters and Global Connections CHAPTER 23. The Transformation of Europe CHAPTER 24. New Worlds: The Americas and Oceania CHAPTER 25. Africa and the Atlantic World CHAPTER 26. Tradition and Change in East Asia CHAPTER 27. The Islamic Empires PART VI. An Age of Revolution, Industry, and Empire, 1750 to 1914 CHAPTER 28. Revolutions and National States in the Atlantic World CHAPTER 29. The Making of Industrial Society CHAPTER 30. The Americas in the Age of Independence CHAPTER 31. Societies at Crossroads CHAPTER 32. The Building of Global Empires PART VII. Contemporary Global Realignments, 1914 to the Present CHAPTER 33. The Great War: The World in Upheaval CHAPTER 34. An Age of Anxiety CHAPTER 35. Nationalism and Political Identities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America CHAPTER 36. New Conflagrations: World War II and the Cold War CHAPTER 37. The End of Empire CHAPTER 38. A World without Borders