The Human Journey: A Concise Introduction to World History, Prehistory to 1450 (Volume 1)

The Human Journey offers a truly concise yet satisfyingly full history of the world from ancient times to the present. The book's scope, as the title implies, is the whole story of humanity, in planetary context. Its themes include not only the great questions of the humanities--nature versus nurture, the history and meaning of human variation, the sources of wealth and causes of revolution--but also the major transformations in human agriculture, cities, iron, writing, universal religions, global trade, industrialization, popular government, justice, and equality. In each conceptually rich chapter, leading historian Kevin Reilly concentrates on a single important period and theme, sustaining a focused narrative and analytical perspective. Chapter 2, for example, discusses the significance of bronze-age urbanization and the advent of the Iron Age. Chapter 3 examines the meaning and significance of the age of "classical" civilizations. Chapter 4 explains the spread of universal religions and new technologies in the postclassical age of Eurasian integration. But these examples also reveal a range of approaches to world history.