The Human Journey: A Concise Introduction to World History: Prehistory to 1450

by Reilly, Kevin

• ISBN13: 9781442213852
• ISBN10: 144221385X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-11-08
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

There isn't much if any at this length and bare-bones style. Even the "brief" editions of the big texts are 8.5x11 trim, 750 or so pages. -Strayer/Ways of the World (Bedford St. Martins 2008) 880 pp $78.95 full color in 1 vol, 480 pp $60.95 each in 2 vols.) 2268 PT combined, 4216 PT vol. 1, 7253 PT vol. 2. (The closest competitor, but our book is different in the following respects: 1) half the length, lower price, 2) bare-bones narrative approach, 3) chronological instead of thematic)-Stearns/World History in Brief 7e, Prentice-Hall, October 2009. Combined volume, paper, 720 pp, $64. Split volumes, paper, 304-448 pp, $60 each. 348 PT combined, 1054 PT vol. 1, 1343 PT vol. 2.-McNeill and McNeill/The Human Web: too difficult for most students and somewhat quirky. Norton 2003. Paper 368 pp, $19. B&W illustrations. 1101 PT since 2007.-David Christian/This Fleeting World: A Short History of Humanity. Very brief. Berkshire 2007. Paper, 120 pp, $14.95. 585 PT.

Author Biography

Kevin Reilly is professor of history at Raritan Valley Community College.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. xv
Preface	p. xvii
The Long Prologue: From 14 Billion Years Ago	p. 1
Peopling the Planet: The Earth as a Global Frontier	p. 3
A Little Big History	p. 3
First Life on Earth	p. 3
Three Explosions of Life	p. 3
Changing Surfaces	p. 4
Changes in Climate	p. 5
Human Origins	p. 5
Natural Selection	p. 5
Hominids Stand Tall	p. 6
Hominids to Humans	p. 6
Culture Trumps Nature	p. 7
Global Migration	p. 7
Humans as Travelers	p. 8
The First Modern Humans	p. 9
Cave Paintings and Female Figurines	p. 10
Cultural Adaptation	p. 11
Human Differences: Race and Culture	p. 12
Do Numbers Count? Patterns of Population Growth	p. 14
Most of Human History: Foraging Societies	p. 14
Lifestyles of Foragers	p. 14
Sexual Division of Labor	p. 16
Relative Social Equality	p. 16
Leisure Time	p. 16
Merging Old and New	p. 17
Subduing the Earth: The Consequences of Domestication	p. 18
The First Breakthrough: Origins of Agricultural/Pastoral Economies	p. 18
Control over Food Supply	p. 18
Why Agriculture Developed	p. 19
Selecting Crops to Grow	p. 19
Reducing Variety	p. 20
Globalization and Continental Variety	p. 20
Geography as Destiny	p. 22
East-West Transmission Advantages	p. 23
Agriculture and Language	p. 24
The Long Agricultural Age: Places and Processes	p. 25
Jericho	p. 25
Catal Huyuk	p. 26
Banpo	p. 27
Ibo Culture	p. 29
The Taino	p. 30
Neolithic Continuity and Change	p. 32
Changes in a Mexican Valley	p. 32
Conclusion	p. 33
The Brave New World of City, State, and Pasture: From 3000 BCE	p. 37
The Urban Revolution: Causes and Consequences	p. 39
The Epic of Gilamesh	p. 39
The First Cities	p. 40
The Urban Revolution	p. 40
First-City Firsts	p. 40
Origin of Cities in Plow and Irrigation	p. 40
Middle East	p. 41
East Asia	p. 41
Americas	p. 41
The Brave New World: Squares and Crowds	p. 42
Tall Buildings and Monumental Architecture	p. 43
Social Classes and Inequality	p. 43
Officials and Scribes	p. 43
Slaves and Servants	p. 43
Farmers and Workers	p. 44
New Systems of Control	p. 44
Fathers and Kings	p. 44
Religion and Queens	p. 44
Law and the State	p. 45
Hammurabi's Code	p. 46
New Urban Classes in City-States and Territorial States	p. 46
Merchants	p. 47
Priests	p. 47
Soldiers	p. 48
New Country People	p. 48
Change and "Civilization"	p. 49
The Bias of "Civilization"	p. 49
Achievements of Ancient Civilizations	p. 49
Writing	p. 50
Control and Change	p. 50
Pasture and Empire	p. 51
Nomads Put the Horse before the Cart	p. 52
New Balance between City and Pasture	p. 53
Nomads Conquer and Create Empires	p. 54
States Regain Empires with Chariots	p. 54
Empires and Collapse	p. 55
Iron Age Eurasia	p. 57
Iron versus Bronze	p. 57
New Forms of Inclusiveness: Words and God for All	p. 57
Iron as Metaphor	p. 57
The Invention of the Alphabet	p. 59
"T" Is for Trade	p. 59
Monotheism	p. 61
Gods at War	p. 61
The Rivers of Babylon	p. 62
Citizenship and Salvation: Leveling in Life and Death	p. 63
The Cities of Babylon	p. 63
The Persian Paradise	p. 64
Imperial Size and Reach	p. 65
Ships and Satrapies	p. 65
Conclusion	p. 65
The Legacy of Gilgamesh's Wall	p. 65
The Promise of Pharaoh's Dream	p. 66
Eurasian Classical Cultures and Empires: 600 BCE-200 CE	p. 69
The Great Traditions of the Classical Age	p. 71
The Classical Age	p. 71
The Great Divergence	p. 71
Interpreting Literature	p. 71
Differences Not Permanent	p. 72
The Ways of India and Greece	p. 72
India	p. 73
Vedic Civilization	p. 73
Four Varnas	p. 73
Karma and Reincarnation	p. 74
Farmers and Jatis	p. 75
Cities, States, and Buddhism	p. 75
Mauryan Dynasty	p. 76
Ashoka	p. 76
Buddhism, Politics, and Commerce	p. 77
Greece	p. 77
The Hellenes	p. 77
Clans into Citizens	p. 77
The Polis and Greek Religion	p. 78
Public Spaces and Public Dramas	p. 79
Freedom and Law	p. 80
Law and War between States	p. 80
Laws of Nature	p. 81
Athenian Democracy	p. 82
Athens City Limits	p. 83
The Worlds of Rome and China	p. 84
Rome	p. 84
Greco-Roman Society and Hellenism	p. 84
Republic Not a Democracy	p. 85
Armies, Lands, and Citizens	p. 86
Praetors and Publicans	p. 86
Cicero on Provincial Government	p. 86
Civil War and Empire	p. 87
Empire and Law	p. 87
Administering the Roman Empire	p. 88
No Bureaucracy	p. 89
The Pax Romana	p. 90
The Third Century	p. 90
China	p. 91
Similarities and Differences	p. 91
Lineages, Cities, and States	p. 92
Confucius	p. 93
Legalism and the Unification of China	p. 94
Qin Creates China	p. 95
The Solution of Han	p. 96
Empire and Dynastic Succession	p. 98
The Mandate of Heaven	p. 98
A Government of Experts	p. 98
Salt and Iron	p. 100
Palace, Consort Families, and Taxes	p. 101
Strains of Empire	p. 102
Conclusion	p. 102
The Spread of New Ways in Eurasia: 200 CE-1000 CE	p. 105
Cultural Encounters and Integration	p. 107
The Silk Road	p. 107
The Spread of Salvation Religions	p. 109
Classical Collapse and Hard Times	p. 109
Population Decline	p. 110
Weather or Not?	p. 110
Southernization	p. 110
Southern Sanctuaries	p. 110
Himalayas and Horses	p. 110
Iran: Between Two Worlds	p. 111
Iranian Society	p. 111
Iranian Religions	p. 111
India and Southeast Asia	p. 112
The Kushan Prelude	p. 113
Monsoon Winds	p. 113
Malay Sails	p. 114
Tropical Crops	p. 115
Wet Rice	p. 115
Gupta India	p. 115
Hinduism in Southeast Asia	p. 116
Buddhism beyond India	p. 116
Mahayana Buddhism	p. 117
Buddhism in Central Asia and China	p. 118
The Way of the Way	p. 118
The Uses of Magic	p. 119
Monks, Missionaries, and Monarchs	p. 119
Pilgrims and Writings	p. 120
Temple and State	p. 120
Christianity beyond Palestine	p. 122
Hellenization	p. 122
Paul versus Peter	p. 122
Healing and Miracles	p. 123
Jews and Christians	p. 123
Conversion of the Roman Empire	p. 123
The Eastern Roman Empire and Beyond	p. 125
Soldiers and Emperors	p. 125
The Tribes of Europe	p. 126
Orthodoxy, Heresy, and Assimilation	p. 126
Christianity in Europe and China	p. 127
The Rise of Islam: The Making of a World Civilization	p. 129
Salvation, Endings, and Beginnings	p. 129
The Prophet: Trade and Religion	p. 129
Islam beyond Arabia	p. 130
Islamic Expansion to 750	p. 130
Islamic Expansion after 750	p. 132
The First World Civilization	p. 133
Abbasid Baghdad	p. 133
A Cultural Empire	p. 134
Conclusion	p. 135
The Making of an Afro-Eurasian Network: 1000 CE-1450 CE	p. 139
China in the Making of an Afro-Eurasian Network	p. 142
Industry and Invention	p. 142
Textiles and Pottery	p. 142
Paper and Printing	p. 143
Compass and Ships	p. 144
Guns and Gunpowder	p. 144
Iron and Coal	p. 145
Industrial Revolution?	p. 145
Commerce and Capitalism	p. 146
Money and Markets	p. 147
Public versus Private Enterprise	p. 147
Hangzhou	p. 147
State and Bureaucracy	p. 149
The Modern State	p. 149
A Bureaucracy of Experts	p. 150
Mongols in the Making of an Afro-Eurasian Network	p. 150
The Mongols	p. 150
Death and Destruction	p. 151
Trade and Tolerance	p. 151
Political Divisions and Economic Unity	p. 153
World History for a Global Age	p. 153
Ecological Unity: A Dark Victory	p. 154
Islam in the Making of an Afro-Eurasian Network	p. 155
New Muslims from the Steppe	p. 155
Slaves, Soldiers, and Sons	p. 156
In Place of Government	p. 157
Muslims, Merchants, and Markets	p. 158
A Merchant's Religion	p. 158
Cairo	p. 160
Islam in Africa	p. 161
Islam in West Africa	p. 161
Swahili Culture	p. 162
A Single Ecozone	p. 162
Islam in India and Indonesia	p. 163
Europe in the Making of an Afro-Eurasian Network	p. 164
Revival and Expansion	p. 164
Good Weather and Good Luck	p. 166
Two Europes, Four Economies	p. 167
Cities and States	p. 167
Urban Renewal	p. 168
City-States and Citizenship	p. 168
Law and Science	p. 169
Natural Law and Natural Reason	p. 169
Twelfth-Century Renaissance	p. 169
Popular Science	p. 171
The Formation of the Modern Network	p. 173
Death and Rebirth	p. 173
The Renaissance	p. 174
The Classical and the Novel	p. 174
Japan and Korea	p. 175
Imitators and Innovators	p. 176
Conclusion: The Virtues of Variety	p. 178
Parallel Worlds of Inner Africa, the Americas, and Oceania: Before 1450	p. 183
The World of Inner Africa	p. 185
Geography, Race, and Language	p. 185
The World's Three Transformations in Africa	p. 186
Humans, Farmers, and States	p. 186
The Nile Connection	p. 186
The Saharan Separation	p. 187
The Bantu Migrations	p. 187
Words, Seeds, and Iron	p. 188
A Common Culture?	p. 189
Empires, States, and Stateless Societies	p. 189
Politics, Population, and Climate	p. 189
Lots of Land	p. 190
West Africa	p. 191
Stateless Societies	p. 191
Kingdoms for Horses	p. 191
East and South Africa	p. 192
Cattle and Colonization	p. 192
Great Zimbabwe	p. 192
Inner Africa and the World	p. 193
The World of the Americas	p. 193
States and Empires of Middle America	p. 194
Before the Azetecs	p. 194
Classical Mayan	p. 194
A Theoretical Interlude: Priests and Soldiers	p. 195
Toltecs and Aztecs	p. 195
States and Empires of South America	p. 198
Before the Incas	p. 198
Classical Chavin	p. 199
Moche Warrior Priests and Divine Emperors	p. 199
Incas and Their Ancestors	p. 200
States and Peoples of North America	p. 202
Peoples and Places	p. 203
Rich Pacific Fisheries	p. 203
Pueblos of the Southwest	p. 204
Eastern Woodland Farmers	p. 204
Americas and the World	p. 205
The World of the Pacific	p. 206
Islands and Settlers	p. 206
Islands	p. 206
First Wave	p. 206
Australia	p. 207
Austronesian and Polynesian Migrations	p. 207
Austronesian Migrations	p. 207
Polynesian Migrations	p. 207
Language and Culture	p. 209
Ecology and Colonization	p. 210
The Advantages of Parallel Worlds	p. 211
The Lessons of Parallel Worlds	p. 211
Lessons of Similarities	p. 211
Similarities or Connections	p. 212
Lessons of Differences	p. 212
The Strength of Parallel Worlds	p. 213
Index	p. 409
About the Author	p. 429
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