A book that helps students see the big picture

Ways of the World has quickly become one of the most widely adopted new world history textbooks and offers a genuine alternative for your world history survey. Designed as a brief text, Ways of the World focuses on the big picture of significant historical trends, themes, and developments. Author Robert W. Strayer, a pioneer in the world history movement with years of classroom experience, provides a thoughtful and insightful synthesis. The brief narrative allows you to supplement with your own readings and course materials and provides an affordable option for your students. The second edition rolls out Bedford/St. Martin's new digital history tools, including LearningCurve, an adaptive quizzing engine that garners over a 90% student satisfaction rate, and LaunchPad, the all new interactive e-book and course space that puts high quality easy-to-use assessment at your fingertips. Easy to integrate into your campus LMS, and featuring video, additional primary sources, a wealth of adaptive and summative quizzing, and more, LaunchPad cements student understanding of the text while helping them make progress toward learning outcomes. It's the best content joined up with the best technology.

Robert W. Strayer (PhD, University of Wisconsin) taught African, Soviet, and world history for many years at SUNY College at Brockport, where he received Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching and for Excellence in Scholarship. In 1998 he was visiting professor of world and Soviet history at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Since 2002, he has taught world history at the University of California, Santa Cruz; California State University, Monterey Bay; and Cabrillo College. His scholarship includes work in African history (Kenya: Focus on Nationalism, 1975; The Making of Mission Communities in East Africa, 1978); Soviet history (Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse?,1998; The Communist Experiment, 2007) and World History (The Making of the Modern World, 1988, 1995; Ways of the World, 2009, 2011). He is a long-time member of the World History Association and served on its Executive Committee.

Preface

Versions and Supplements

Maps

Special Features

Prologue: From Cosmic History to Human History

The History of the Universe

The History of a Planet

The History of the Human Species... in a Single Paragraph

Why World History?

Comparison, Connection, and Change: The Three Cs of World History

Snapshot: A History of the Universe as a Cosmic Calendar

Part One: First Things First: Beginnings in History, to 500 b.c.e.

The Big Picture

Turning Points in Early World History

     The Emergence of Humankind
    The Globalization of Humankind
     The Revolution of Farming and Herding
     The Turning Point of Civilization
     A Note on Dates
*Mapping Part One

1 Chapter One: First Peoples; First Farmers: Most of History in a Single Chapter, To 4000 b.c.e.
Out of Africa to the Ends of the Earth: First Migrations

     Into Eurasia
     Into Australia
     Into the Americas
     Into the Pacific
The Ways We Were

     The First Human Societies
     Economy and the Environment
     The Realm of the Spirit
     Settling Down: The Great Transition
Breakthroughs to Agriculture

Common Patterns
Variations
The Globalization of Agriculture

Triumph and Resistance
The Culture of Agriculture
Social Variation in the Age of Agriculture

     Pastoral Societies
     Agricultural Village Societies
     Chiefdoms
Reflections: The Uses of the Paleolithic

Second Thoughts

     What's the Significance
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Paleolithic Era in Perspective

*Portrait: Ishi, The Last of His People

2 First Civilizations: Cities, States, and Unequal Societies, 3500 b.c.e.–500 b.c.e.
Something New: The Emergence of Civilizations

     Introducing the First Civilizations
     The Question of Origins
     An Urban Revolution
The Erosion of Equality

     Hierarchies of Class
     Hierarchies of Gender
     Patriarchy in Practice
The Rise of the State

     Coercion and Consent
     Writing and Accounting
     The Grandeur of Kings
Comparing Mesopotamia and Egypt

     Environment and Culture
     Cities and States
     Interaction and Exchange
Reflections: "Civilization": What’s in a Word?

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Writing in Ancient Civilizations

*Portrait: Paneb of Egypt

Part Two: Second Wave Civilizations in World History, 500 b.c.e.–500 c.e.
The Big Picture

After the First Civilizations: What Changed and What Didn’t?

Continuities in Civilization
Changes in Civilization
Snapshot: World Population during the Age of Agricultural Civilization
*Mapping Part Two

3 State and Empire in Eurasia/North Africa, 500 b.c.e.–500 c.e.
Empires and Civilizations in Collision: The Persians and the Greeks

     The Persian Empire
     The Greeks
     Collision: The Greco-Persian Wars
     Collision: Alexander and the Hellenistic Era
Comparing Empires: Roman and Chinese

     Rome: From City-State to Empire
     China: From Warring States to Empire
    Consolidating the Roman and Chinese Empires
     The Collapse of Empires
Intermittent Empire: The Case of India

Reflections: Enduring Legacies of Second-Wave Empires

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Distinctive Features of Second-Wave Eurasian Civilizations

*Portrait: Trung Trac, Resisting the Chinese Empire

4 Culture and Religion in Eurasia/North Africa, 500 b.c.e.–500 c.e.
China and the Search for Order

The Legalist Answer
The Confucian Answer

The Daoist Answer
Cultural Traditions of Classical India

     South Asian Religion: From Ritual Sacrifice to Philosophical Speculation
     The Buddhist Challenge
     Hinduism as a Religion of Duty and Devotion
Moving toward Monotheism: The Search for God in the Middle East

Zoroastrianism
Judaism
The Cultural Tradition of Classical Greece: The Search for a Rational Order

The Greek Way of Knowing
The Greek Legacy
The Birth of ChristianityÉwith Buddhist Comparisons

     The Lives of the Founders
     The Spread of New Religions
     Institutions, Controversies, and Divisions
Reflections: Religion and Historians

Second Thoughts

What’s the Significance?
Big Picture Questions Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Thinkers and Philosophies of the Second-Wave Era

*Portrait: Perpetua, Christian Martyr

5 Society and Inequality in Eurasia/North Africa, 500 b.c.e.–500 c.e.
Society and the State in China

     An Elite of Officials
     The Landlord Class
     Peasants
     Merchants
Class and Caste in India

     Caste as Varna
     Caste as Jati
     The Functions of Caste
Slavery: The Case of the Roman Empire

     Slavery and Civilization
      The Making of Roman Slavery
     Resistance and Rebellion
Comparing Patriarchies

A Changing Patriarchy: The Case of China
Contrasting Patriarchies in Athens and Sparta
Reflections: Arguing with Solomon and the Buddha

Second Thoughts

What’s the Significance? Big Picture Questions
Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Social Life and Duty in India *Portrait: Ge Hong, a Chinese Scholar in Troubled Times

6 Commonalities and Variations: Africa and the Americas, 500 b.c.e.–1200 c.e.
Continental Comparisons

African Civilizations

     Meroe: Continuing a Nile Valley Civilization
     Axum: The Making of a Christian Kingdom
     Along the Niger River: Cities without States
Civilizations of Mesoamerica

     The Maya: Writing and Warfare
     Teotihuacan: The Americas’ Greatest City
     Civilizations of the Andes

     Chavin: A Pan-Andean Religious Movement
     Moche: A Civilization of the Coast
     Wari and Tiwanaku: Empires of the Interior
Alternatives to Civilization: Bantu Africa

Cultural Encounters
Society and Religion
Alternatives to Civilization: North America

The Ancestral Pueblo: Pit Houses and Great Houses
Peoples of the Eastern Woodlands: The Mound Builders
Reflections: Deciding What’s Important: Balance in World History

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Continental Population in the Second-Wave Era

*Portrait: Piye, Kushite Conqueror of Egypt

Part Three: An Age of Accelerating Connections, 500–1500
The Big Picture

Defining a Millennium

Third-Wave Civilizations: Something New, Something Old, Something Blended
The Ties That Bind: Transregional Interaction in the Third Wave Era
*Mapping Part Three

7 Commerce and Culture, 500–1500
Silk Roads: Exchange across Eurasia

    The Growth of the Silk Roads
     Goods in Transit
     Cultures in Transit
     Disease in Transit
Sea Roads: Exchange across the Indian Ocean

     Weaving the Web of an Indian Ocean World
     Sea Roads as a Catalyst for Change: Southeast Asia
     Sea Roads as a Catalyst for Change: East Africa
Sand Roads: Exchange across the Sahara

Commercial Beginnings in West Africa
Gold, Salt, and Slaves: Trade and Empire in West Africa
An American Network: Commerce and Connection in the Western Hemisphere

Reflections: Economic Globalization—Ancient and Modern

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Economic Exchange along the Silk Roads

Snapshot: Economic Exchange in the Indian Ocean Basin *Portrait: Thorfinn Karlsefni, Viking Voyager

8 China and the World: East Asian Connections, 500–1300
Together Again: The Reemergence of a Unified China

A "Golden Age" of Chinese Achievement
Women in the Song Dynasty
China and the Northern Nomads: A Chinese World Order in the Making

     The Tribute System in Theory
     The Tribute System in Practice
     Cultural Influence across an Ecological Frontier
Coping with China: Comparing Korea, Vietnam, and Japan

     Korea and China
     Vietnam and China
     Japan and China
China and the Eurasian World Economy

Spillovers: China’s Impact on Eurasia
On the Receiving End: China as Economic Beneficiary
China and Buddhism

Making Buddhism Chinese
Losing State Support: The Crisis of Chinese Buddhism
Reflections: Why Do Things Change?

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
*Snapshot: Chinese Technological Achievements

*Portrait: Izumi Shikibu, Japanese Poet and Lover

9 The Worlds of Islam: Afro-Eurasian Connections, 600–1500
The Birth of a New Religion

     The Homeland of Islam
     The Messenger and the Message
     The Transformation of Arabia
The Making of an Arab Empire

     War, Conquest, and Tolerance
     Conversion
     Divisions and Controversies
     Women and Men in Early Islam
Islam and Cultural Encounter: A Four-Way Comparison

     The Case of India
     The Case of Anatolia
     The Case of West Africa
     The Case of Spain
The World of Islam as a New Civilization

Networks of Faith
Networks of Exchange
Reflections: Past and Present: Choosing Our History

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Key Achievements in Islamic Science and Scholarship

*Portrait: Mansa Musa, West African Monarch and Muslim Pilgrim

10 The Worlds of Christendom: Contraction, Expansion, and Division, 500–1300

Christian Contraction in Asia and Africa

Asian Christianity

African Christianity

Byzantine Christendom: Building on the Roman Past

The Byzantine State

The Byzantine Church and Christian Divergence

Byzantium and the World

The Conversion of Russia

Western Christendom: Rebuilding in the Wake of Roman Collapse

Political Life in Western Europe, 500–1000

Society and the Church, 500–1000

Accelerating Change in the West, 1000–1300

Europe Outward Bound: The Crusading Tradition

The West in Comparative Perspective

Catching Up

Pluralism in Politics

Reason and Faith

Reflections: Remembering and Forgetting: Continuity and Surprise in the Worlds of Christendom

Second Thoughts

What’s the Significance?

Big Picture Questions

Next Steps: For Further Study

LearningCurve

*Snapshot: European Borrowing

*Portrait: Cecilia Penifader, An English Peasant and Unmarried Woman

11 Pastoral Peoples on the Global Stage: The Mongol Moment, 1200–1500
Looking Back and Looking Around: The Long History of Pastoral Nomads

The World of Pastoral Societies
Before the Mongols: Pastoralists in History
Breakout: The Mongol Empire

From Temujin to Chinggis Khan: The Rise of the Mongol Empire
Explaining the Mongol Moment
Encountering the Mongols: Comparing Three Cases

     China and the Mongols
    Persia and the Mongols
     Russia and the Mongols
The Mongol Empire as a Eurasian Network

     Toward a World Economy
     Diplomacy on a Eurasian Scale
     Cultural Exchange in the Mongol Realm
     The Plague: An Afro-Eurasian Pandemic
Reflections: Changing Images of Nomadic Peoples

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Varieties of Pastoral Societies

*Portrait, Khutulun, A Mongol Wrestler Princess

12 The Worlds of the Fifteenth Century
The Shapes of Human Communities

     Paleolithic Persistence: Australia and North America
     Agricultural Village Societies: The Igbo and the Iroquois
     Herding Peoples: Central Asia and West Africa
Civilizations of the Fifteenth Century: Comparing China and Europe

     Ming Dynasty China
     European Comparisons: State Building and Cultural Renewal
     European Comparisons: Maritime Voyaging
Civilizations of the Fifteenth Century: The Islamic World

In the Islamic Heartland: The Ottoman and Safavid Empires
On the Frontiers of Islam: The Songhay and Mughal Empires
Civilizations of the Fifteenth Century: The Americas

The Aztec Empire
The Inca Empire
Webs of Connection

A Preview of Coming Attractions: Looking Ahead to the Modern Era, 1500–2012

Reflections: What If? Chance and Contingency in World History

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Major Developments around the World in the Fifteenth Century

Snapshot: World Population Growth, 1000–2000

*Portrait: Zheng He, China's Non-Chinese Admiral

Part Four: The Early Modern World, 1450–1750
The Big Picture

Debating the Character of an Era

An Early Modern Era?
A Late Agrarian Era?
*Mapping Part Four

13 Political Transformations: Empires and Encounters, 1450–1750
European Empires in the Americas

     The European Advantage
     The Great Dying
     The Columbian Exchange
Comparing Colonial Societies in the Americas

     In the Lands of the Aztecs and the Incas
     Colonies of Sugar
     Settler Colonies in North America
The Steppes and Siberia: The Making of a Russian Empire

Experiencing the Russian Empire
Russians and Empire
Asian Empires

     Making China an Empire
     Muslims and Hindus in the Mughal Empire
     Muslims and Christians in the Ottoman Empire
Reflections: The Centrality of Context in World History

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Ethnic Composition of Colonial Societies in Latin America

*Portrait: Do–a Marina, Between Two Worlds

14. Economic Transformations: Commerce and Consequence, 1450–1750
Europeans and Asian Commerce

     A Portuguese Empire of Commerce
     Spain and the Philippines
     The East India Companies
     Asian Commerce
Silver and Global Commerce

The "World Hunt": Fur in Global Commerce

Commerce in People: The Atlantic Slave Trade

     The Slave Trade in Context
     The Slave Trade in Practice
     Consequences: The Impact of the Slave Trade in Africa
Reflections: Economic Globalization—Then and Now

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: The Slave Trade in Numbers (1501-1866)

*Portrait: Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, To Slavery and Back

15 Cultural Transformations: Religion and Science, 1450–1750
The Globalization of Christianity

     Western Christendom Fragmented: The Protestant Reformation
     Christianity Outward Bound
     Conversion and Adaptation in Spanish America

An Asian Comparison: China and the Jesuits
Persistence and Change in Afro-Asian Cultural Traditions

     Expansion and Renewal in the Islamic World
     China: New Directions in an Old Tradition
     India: Bridging the Hindu/Muslim Divide
A New Way of Thinking: The Birth of Modern Science

The Question of Origins: Why Europe?
Science as Cultural Revolution

Science and Enlightenment
Looking Ahead: Science in the Nineteenth Century

European Science beyond the West
Reflections: Cultural Borrowing and Its Hazards

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Catholic/Protestant Differences in the Sixteenth Century

Snapshot: Major Thinkers and Achievements of the Scientific Revolution

*Portrait: Ursula de Jesus, An Afro-Peruvian Slave and Christian Visionary

Part Five: The European Moment In World History, 1750–1914
The Big Picture

European Centrality and the Problem of Eurocentrism

Eurocentric Geography and History
Countering Eurocentrism
*Mapping Part Five

16 Atlantic Revolutions, Global Echoes, 1750–1914
Atlantic Revolutions in a Global Context

Comparing Atlantic Revolutions

     The North American Revolution, 1775–1787
     The French Revolution, 1789–1815
     The Haitian Revolution, 1791–1804
     Spanish American Revolutions, 1810–1825
Echoes of Revolution

     The Abolition of Slavery
     Nations and Nationalism
     Feminist Beginnings
Reflections: Revolutions Pro and Con

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Key Moments in the Growth of Nationalism

*Portrait: Kartini, Feminism and Nationalism in Java

17 Revolutions of Industrialization, 1750–1914
Explaining the Industrial Revolution

Why Europe?
Why Britain?
The First Industrial Society

     The British Aristocracy
     The Middle Classes
     The Laboring Classes
     Social Protest
     Europeans in Motion
Variations on a Theme: Comparing Industrialization in the United States and Russia

The United States: Industrialization without Socialism
Russia: Industrialization and Revolution

The Industrial Revolution and Latin America in the Nineteenth Century

After Independence in Latin America
Facing the World Economy

Becoming like Europe?
Reflections: History and Horse Races

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Measuring the Industrial Revolution

Snapshot: The Industrial Revolution and the Global Divide

*Portrait: Ellen Johnston, Factory Girl and Poet

18 Colonial Encounters in Asia and Africa, 1750–1950
Industry and Empire

A Second Wave of European Conquests

Under European Rule

Cooperation and Rebellion
Colonial Empires with a Difference
Ways of Working: Comparing Colonial Economies

     Economies of Coercion: Forced Labor and the Power of the State
     Economies of Cash-Crop Agriculture: The Pull of the Market
     Economies of Wage Labor: Migration for Work
     Women and the Colonial Economy: Examples from Africa
     Assessing Colonial Development
Believing and Belonging: Identity and Cultural Change in the Colonial Era

     Education
     Religion
     "Race" and "Tribe"
Reflections: Who Makes History?

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Long-Distance Migration in an Age of Empire, 1846–1940

*Portrait: Wanjiku of Kenya, An Ordinary Woman in Extraordinary Times

19 Empire in Collision: Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia, 1800–1914

Reversal of Fortune: China’s Century of Crisis

The Crisis Within

Western Pressures

The Failure of Conservative Modernization

The Ottoman Empire and the West in the Nineteenth Century

"The Sick Man of Europe"

Reform and Its Opponents

Outcomes: Comparing China and the Ottoman Empire

The Japanese Difference: The Rise of a New East Asian Power

The Tokugawa Background

American Intrusion and the Meiji Restoration

Modernization Japanese Style

Japan and the World

Reflections: Success and Failure in History

Second Thoughts

What’s the Significance?

Big Picture Questions

Next Steps: For Further Study

LearningCurve

Snapshot: Chinese/British Trade at Canton, 1835–1836

*Portrait: Commissioner Lin, Confronting the Opium Trade

Part Six: The Most Recent Century, 1914–2012
The Big Picture

Since World War I: A New Period in World History?
*Mapping Part Six

20 Collapse at the Center: World War, Depression, and the Rebalancing of Global Power, 1914–1970s
The First World War: European Civilization in Crisis, 1914–1918

An Accident Waiting to Happen
Legacies of the Great War
Capitalism Unraveling: The Great Depression

Democracy Denied: Comparing Italy, Germany, and Japan

     The Fascist Alternative in Europe
     Hitler and the Nazis
     Japanese Authoritarianism
     A Second World War

     The Road to War in Asia
     The Road to War in Europe
     The Outcomes of Global Conflict
The Recovery of Europe

Reflections: War and Remembrance: Learning from History

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: Comparing the Impact of the Depression

*Portrait: Etty Hillesum, Witness to the Holocaust

21 Revolution, Socialism, and Global Conflict: The Rise and Fall of World Communism, 1917–Present
Global Communism

Comparing Revolutions as a Path to Communism

Russia: Revolution in a Single Year
China: A Prolonged Revolutionary Struggle
Building Socialism in Two Countries

     Communist Feminism
     Socialism in the Countryside
     Communism and Industrial Development
     The Search for Enemies
East versus West: A Global Divide and a Cold War

Military Conflict and the Cold War
Nuclear Standoff and Third World Rivalry
Paths to the End of Communism

China: Abandoning Communism and Maintaining the Party
The Soviet Union: The Collapse of Communism and Country
Reflections: To Judge or Not to Judge

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: China under Mao, 1949–1976

*Portrait: Anna Dubova, A Peasant Woman and Soviet Communist

22 The End of Empire: The Global South on the Global Stage, 1914–Present
Toward Freedom: Struggles for Independence

The End of Empire in World History
Explaining African and Asian Independence
Comparing Freedom Struggles

The Case of India: Ending British Rule
The Case of South Africa: Ending Apartheid
Experiments with Freedom

     Experiments in Political Order: Party, Army, and the Fate of Democracy
     Experiments in Economic Development: Changing Priorities, Varying Outcomes
     Experiments with Culture: The Role of Islam in Turkey and Iran
Reflections: History in the Middle of the Stream

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
Snapshot: World Population Growth, 1950-2011

*Portrait: Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Muslim Pacifist

23 Capitalism and Culture: A New Phase of Global Interaction, since 1945
The Transformation of the World Economy

     Reglobalization
     Growth, Instability, and Inequality
     Globalization and an American Empire
The Globalization of Liberation: Focus on Feminism

     Feminism in the West
     Feminism in the Global South
     International Feminism
Religion and Global Modernity

     Fundamentalism on a Global Scale
     Creating Islamic Societies: Resistance and Renewal in the World of Islam
     Religious Alternatives to Fundamentalism
Experiencing the Anthropocene Era: Environment and Environmentalism

The Global Environment Transformed
Green and Global
Final Reflections: Pondering the OAR

Second Thoughts

     What’s the Significance?
     Big Picture Questions
     Next Steps: For Further Study
LearningCurve
*Snapshot: Global Development and Inequality: 2011

*Portrait: Rachel Carson, Pioneer of Environmentalism

Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
About the Author

*New to this edition

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Summary

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Table of Contents

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