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Kevin Reilly is a professor of humanities at Raritan Valley College and has taught at Rutgers, Columbia, and Princeton Universities. Cofounder and first president of the World History Association, Reilly has written numerous articles on the teaching of history and has edited works including The
Introductory History Course for the American Historical Association. A specialist in immigration history, Reilly incorporated his research in creating the “Modern Global Migrations” globe at Ellis Island. His work on the history of racism led to the editing of Racism: A Global Reader. He was a Fulbright scholar in Brazil and Jordan and an NEH fellow in Greece, Oxford (UK), and India. Awards include the Community College Humanities Association’s Distinguished Educator of the Year and the World History Association’s Pioneer Award. He has also served the American Historical Association in various capacities, including the governing council. He is currently writing a global history of racism.
Please note:
Volume 1 includes Chapters 1-14.
Volume 2 includes Chapters 15-28.
VOLUME 2: Since 1400
15. Overseas Expansion in the Early Modern Period: Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, 1400-1600
Both China and Europe set sail for global expansion in the fifteenth century, but China’s explorations ended just as Europe’s began. What were the factors that led to their similar efforts yet different outcomes? We examine primary and secondary sources in search of clues.
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Reading Primary and Secondary Sources
1. Nicholas D. Kristof, 1492: The Prequel, 1999
2. Ma Huan, On Calicut, India
3. Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1498
4. Christopher Columbus, Letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, 1493
5. Kirkpatrick Sale, The Conquest of Paradise, 1991
Reflections
16. Atlantic World Encounters: Europeans, Americans, and Africans, 1500-1850
European encounters with Africans and Americans were similar in some ways, yet markedly different in others. The cultural clash created a new Atlantic world that integrated and divided these indigenous peoples. We compare primary source, including visual evidence, to understand these first contacts and conflicts.
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Comparing Primary Sources
1. Bernal Díaz, The Conquest of New Spain, c. 1560
2. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, c. 1540s
3. European Views of Native Americans, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century
4. Nzinga Mbemba, Appeal to the King of Portugal, 1526
5. Captain Thomas Phillips, Buying Slaves in 1693
6. J. B. Romaigne, Journal of a Slave Ship Voyage, 1819
7. Images of African-American Slavery, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century
Buying Slaves in Africa, Late 1700s or Early 1800s
Plantation Work, Martinique, 1826
Slave Market, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1830s
Slaves Awaiting Sale, New Orleans, 1861
8. Venture Smith, Life and Adventures, 1798
Reflections
17. Empire, Religion, and War: Asian, Islamic, and Christian States, 1500-1800
Between the years 1500 and 1800, the world saw both the rise of empires and religious conflict and war. In this chapter, we ask about the relationship between these two developments and interrogate sources to better understand author, audience, and agenda.
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Understanding Author, Audience, and Agenda
1. Bartolomeo de Las Casas, The Devastation of the Indies, 1555
2. Franciscus de Victoria, On the Indians, or on the Law of War Made by the Spaniards on the Barbarians, 1557
3. Martin Luther, Hymns, 1523-1529
4. Benjamin J. Kaplan, European Faiths and States, 2007
5. Abu-l-Fazl, The Akbarnama, 1596
6. Jahangir, Memoirs of the Emperor Jahangir, c. 1625
7. Abdullah Wahhab, Doctrine of Wahhabis, c. 1800
Reflections
18. Women, Marriage, and Family: China and Europe, 1600-1750
With the blinds drawn on the domestic lives of our ancestors, one might assume their private worlds were uneventful and everywhere the same. By comparing different cultures, we see historical variety in family and economic life and the roles of both women and men.
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Making Comparisons
1. Family Instructions for the Miu Lineage, Late Sixteenth Century
2. Qing Law Code on Marriage, 1644-1810
3. Anna Bijns, “Unyoked Is Best! Happy the Woman without a Man,” 1567
4. Image of a European Family from Flanders, c. 1610
5. Image of a Chinese Family, Eighteenth Century
6. The Autobiography of Mrs. Alice Thornton, 1645-1657
7. Diary of the Countess de Rochefort, 1689
8. Court Case on Marriage in High Court of Aix, 1689
9. Mary Jo Maynes and Ann Waltner, Women and Marriage in Europe and China, 2001
Reflections
19. The Scientific Revolution: Europe, the Ottoman Empire, China, Japan, and the Americas, 1600-1800
The scientific revolution of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries occurred in Europe, but it had important roots in Asia and its consequences reverberated throughout the world. In this chapter we seek to understand what changed and how. How “revolutionary” was the scientific revolution, and how do we distinguish between mere change and “revolutionary” change?
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Distinguishing Change from Revolution
1. Jack Goldstone, Why Europe? 2009
2. Images of Anatomy, Fourteenth and Sixteenth Century
Skeleton Drawing, from the Latin Munich MS Codex, fourteenth century
Woodcut of a Skeleton, from Vesalius, De humani corporis fabrica, 1543
3. Image of Anatomy in China, Early Eighteenth Century
4. Francis Bacon, The New Organon or True Directions Concerning the Interpretation of Nature, 1620
5. Bonnie S. Anderson and Judith P. Zinsser, Women and Science, 1988
6. Lady Mary Wortley Montague, Letter on Turkish Smallpox Inoculation, 1717
7. Lynda Norene Shaffer, China, Technology, and Change, 1986-1987
8. Sugita Gempaku, A Dutch Anatomy Lesson in Japan, 1771
9. Benjamin Franklin, Letter on a Balloon Experiment in 1783
Reflections
20. Enlightenment and Revolution: Europe and the Americas, 1650-1850
The eighteenth-century Enlightenment applied scientific reason to politics, but reason meant different things to different people and societies. What were the goals of the political revolutions produced by the Enlightenment? A close reading of the period texts reveals disagreement and shared dreams.
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Close Reading and Interpretation of Texts
1. David Hume, On Miracles, 1748
2. Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, 1762
3. The American Declaration of Independence, 1776
4. Abigail Adams and John Adams, Remember the Ladies, 1776
5. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, 1789
6. Olympia de Gouges, French Declaration of Rights for Women, 1791
7. Toussaint L’Ouverture, Letter to the Directory, 1797
8. Simón Bolívar, Reply of a South American to a Gentleman of this Island (Jamaica), 1815
Reflections
21. Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution: Europe and the World, 1750-1900
Modern society has been shaped dramatically by capitalism and the industrial revolution, but these two forces are not the same. Which one is principally responsible for the creation of our modern world: the economic system of the market or the technology of the industrial revolution? Distinguishing different “causes” allows us to gauge their relative effects and legacies.
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Distinguishing Historical Processes
1. Arnold Pacey, Asia and the Industrial Revolution, 1990
2. Kaiho Seiryo, Lessons of the Past, 1813
3. Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776
4. The Sadler Report of the House of Commons, 1832
5. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, 1848
6. Serge Witte, Secret Memo to Nicholas II, 1899
7. Mary Antin, The Promised Land, 1894/1912
8. Italians in Two Worlds: An Immigrant’s Letters from Argentina, 1901
Reflections
22. Colonized and Colonizers: Europeans in Africa and Asia, 1850-1930
Colonialism resulted in a world divided between the colonized and the colonizers, a world in which people’s identities were defined by their power relationships with others who looked and often spoke differently. The meeting of strangers and their forced adjustment to predefined roles inspired a number of great literary works that we look to in this chapter for historical guidance.
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Using Literature in History
1. George Alfred Henty, With Clive in India: Or, the Beginnings of an Empire, 1884
2. George Orwell, Burmese Days, 1934
3. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, 1899
4. Chinua Achebe, An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, 1975
5. Chinua Achebe, From Things Fall Apart, 1958
6. Rudyard Kipling, The White Man’s Burden, 1899
Reflections
23. Westernization and Nationalism: Japan, India, and the West, 1820–1939
Western colonialism elicited two conflicting responses among the colonized –rejection and imitation. Sometimes both cohered in the same individual or movement. Exploring this tension through the visual and written sources in this chapter reveals much about the historical process and helps us appreciate the struggles of peoples torn between different ideals.
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Appreciating Contradictions
1. Fukuzawa Yukichi, Good-bye Asia, 1885
2. Images from Japan: Views of Westernization, Late Nineteenth Century
Monkey Show Dressing Room
The Exotic White Man
3. Kakuzo Okakura, The Ideals of the East, 1905
4. Rammohan Roy, Letter on Indian Education, 1823
5. Thomas Babington Macaulay, Minute on Indian Education, 1835
6. Mohandas K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj, 1921
7. Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi, 1936
Reflections
24. World War I and Its Consequences: Europe and the World, 1914-1929
The First World War brutally ended an era – the world would never be the same after such death and destruction. We read historical accounts and analyze images from the era so that we can begin to understand the war’s far-reaching chain of causes and consequences.
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Understanding Causes and Consequences
1. David Fromkin, Europe’s Last Summer, 2004
2. The “Willy-Nicky" Telegrams, 1914
3. World War I Propaganda Posters, 1915-1918
Recruiting Poster for U.S. Army
Italian Poster for National War Loan, 1917
Recruiting Poster for German Army, 1915-1916
Propaganda Poster, United States, 1916
German Appeal to Women: Gold for the War
English Appeal to Women: Munitions Work
“Your Bit Saves a Life”
4. Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est, 1917
5. Memories of Senegalese Soldiers, 1914-1918/1981-1999
6. Zimmermann Telegram, 1917
7. V.I. Lenin, War and Revolution, 1917
8. Rosa Luxemburg, The Problem of Dictatorship, 1918
9. Syrian Congress Memorandum, 1919
10. Algemeen Handelsblad Editorial on the Treaty of Versailles, June 1919
Reflections
25. World War II and Mass Killing: Germany, the Soviet Union, Japan, and the United States, 1931-1945
The rise of fascism in Europe and Asia led to total war, genocide, war crimes, and civilian massacres on an almost unimaginable scale. How could governments, armies, and ordinary people commit such unspeakable acts? How can we recognize the unbelievable and understand the inexcusable?
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Empathetic Understanding
1. Benito Mussolini, The Doctrine of Fascism, 1932
2. Adolph Hitler, From Mein Kampf, 1926
3. Heinrich Himmler, Speech to the SS, 1943
4. Jean-François Steiner, Treblinka, 1967
5. Timothy Snyder, Holocaust: The Ignored Reality, 2009
6. Dr. Robert Wilson, Letters from Nanking, 1945
7. Akihiro Takahashi, Memory of Hiroshima, 1945/1986
Reflections
26. The Cold War and the Third World: Vietnam, Cuba, the Congo, and Afghanistan, 1945-1989
The Cold War was not only a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union in which both superpowers avoided direct military confrontation, it was also a series of hot wars and propaganda battles, often played out with surrogates, for the creation of a new “post-colonial” world-order and the control of an emerging “Third World.” A war of words is a good place to look for hidden political meanings.
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Detecting Ideological Language
1. Heonik Kwon, Origins of the Cold War, 2010
2. Winston Churchill, Iron Curtain Speech, 1946
3. The Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, 1945
4. Edward Lansdale, Report on CIA Operations in Vietnam, 1954-1955
5. Patrice Lumumba, Interview with Russian News Agency TASS, July, 1960
6. United States Summary of Congo Crisis, December, 1960
7. Time Magazine, Nikita Khrushchev: “We Will Bury You,” 1956
8. Soviet Telegram on Cuba, September 7, 1962
9. Telephone Transcript: Soviet Premier and Afghan Prime Minister, 1979
Reflections
27. New Democracy Movements: The World, 1977 to the Present
Demands for democracy are on the rise, challenging and sometimes sweeping away old empires, petty tyrants, military dictatorships, and one-party states. Even “old” democracies are pushed to raise the bar to include social justice, economic opportunity, and a right to education. Where are these movements coming from? Are they connected or coincidental? Are they for real?
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Using Connections and Context to Interpret the Past
1. Hebe de Bonafini and Matilde Sánchez, The Madwomen at the Plaza de Mayo, 1977/2002
2 Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika and Glasnost, 2000
3. Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize Address, 1993
4. George W. Bush, Remarks at the 20th Anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy, 2003
5. Noam Chomsky, “America paved the way for ISIS,” 2015
6. Hagai El-Ad, “Israel’s Charade of Democracy,” 2015
7. Occupy Wall Street, 2011
Reflections
28. Globalization: The World, 1990 to the Present
Globalization is a word with many meanings and a process with many causes. What are the forces most responsible for the shrinking of the world into one global community? Do the forces of globalization unite or divide us? Do they impoverish or enrich us? We undertake the study of process to answer these questions.
Historical Context
Thinking Historically: Understanding Process
1. Sherif Hetata, Dollarization, 1998
2. Philippe Legrain, Cultural Globalization is not Americanization, 2003
3. Miriam Ching Yoon Louie, Sweatshop Warriors: Immigrant Women Workers Take on the Global Factory, 2001
4. Zeynep Tufekci, The Machines Are Coming, 2015
5. Pope Francis, Care for our Common Home, 2015
6. Naomi Klein, “How Science is Telling Us All to Revolt,” 2013
7. Cartoons on Globalization, 2000s
“As an Illegal Immigrant”
“Help is on the Way, Dude”
“Cheap Chinese Textiles”
“Keep the Europeans Out”
“I Don’t Mean to Hurry You”
Reflections
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