About our authors Peter N. Stearns is University Professor at George Mason University, where he regularly teaches a freshman world history course. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has taught at Rutgers University, the University of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon, where he won the Robert Doherty Educational Leadership Award. He also founded and long edited the Journal of Social History. He has written widely in world history, including his most recent book, Time in World History. Other books address modern social and cultural history and include studies on gender, old age, work and emotion, including a recent title, Shame: A Brief History.Michael Adas is the Abraham Voorhees Professor of History and a Board of Governors chair at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Over the past couple of decades his teaching has focused on courses dealing with European and American colonial expansion and African and Asian responses as well as global history in the twentieth century. In addition to texts on world history, Adas has written numerous books and articles on the impact of and resistance to Western colonialism and the importance of technology in those processes. His books include Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance, which won the Dexter Prize in 1992, and more recently Dominance by Design: Technological Imperatives and America's Civilizing Mission. In 2012, he was awarded the Toynbee Prize for his lifetime contributions to global history and cross-cultural understanding. He is currently working on a comparative study of the ways in which British and American soldiers' responses to the wars of attrition in the trenches of World War I and in Vietnam contributed to the decline of each of these global powers.Stuart B. Schwartz was born and educated in Springfield, Massachusetts, and then attended Middlebury College and the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in Latin American history. He taught for many years at the University of Minnesota and joined the faculty at Yale University in 1996. He has also taught in Brazil, Puerto Rico, Spain, France and Portugal. He is a specialist on the history of colonial Latin America, especially Brazil, and is the author of numerous books, notably Sugar Plantations in the Formation of Brazilian Society (1985), which won the Bolton Prize for the best book in Latin American History. He is also the author of Slaves, Peasants and Rebels (1992), Early Latin America (1983), and Victors and Vanquished (1999). He has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton). For his work on Brazil, he was decorated by the Brazilian government. His book All Can Be Saved (2008) won the Bolton Prize as well as 3 awards from the American Historical Association.Marc Jason Gilbert is the holder of the National Endowment for the Humanities Endowed Chair in World History at Hawai'i Pacific University in Honolulu, Hawaii. After receiving his Ph.D. from UCLA, he was for many years Co-Director of Programs in South and Southeast Asia for the University System of Georgia and was recognized by that System as a Board of Regents Distinguished Professor of Teaching and Learning. He has benefited from various fellowships, which have enabled him to study in Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, India, Tanzania and Yemen. He has directed world history academic conferences and workshops for teachers in Cambodia and Vietnam. He is also a past President of the World History Association and the current editor of a WHA-affiliated journal, World History Connected. His publications explore the histories of India, Vietnam and global cultural exchange. His most recent work is Cross-Cultural Encounters in Modern World History (2012), with Jon Thares Davidann.

• Brief Table of Contents PART I - 2.5 MILLION-600 B.C.E.: ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT The Neolithic Revolution and the Birth of CivilizationThe Rise of Civilization in the Middle East and AfricaAsia's First Civilizations: India and ChinaPART II - THE CLASSICAL PERIOD, 600 B.C.E.-600 C.E.: UNITING LARGE REGIONS Unification and the Consolidation of Civilization in ChinaClassical Civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle EastReligious Rivalries and India's Golden AgeRome and Its EmpireThe Peoples and Civilizations of the AmericasThe Spread of Civilizations and the Movement of PeoplesThe End of the Classical Era: World History in Transition, 200-600 c.e.PART III - THE POSTCLASSICAL PERIOD, 600-1450: NEW FAITH AND NEW COMMERCE The First Global Civilization: The Rise and Spread of IslamAbbasid Decline and the Spread of Islamic Civilization to South and Southeast AsiaAfrican Civilizations and the Spread of IslamCivilization in Eastern Europe: Byzantium and Orthodox EuropeA New Civilization Emerges in Western EuropeThe Americas on the Eve of InvasionReunification and Renaissance in Chinese Civilization: The Era of the Tang and Song DynastiesThe Spread of Chinese Civilization: Japan, Korea, and VietnamThe Last Great Nomadic Challenges: From Chinggis Khan to TimurThe World in 1450: Changing Balance of World PowerPART IV - THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD, 1450-1750: THE WORLD SHRINKS The World EconomyThe Transformation of the West, 1450-1750Early Latin AmericaAfrica and the Africans in the Age of the Atlantic Slave TradeThe Rise of RussiaThe Muslim EmpiresAsian Transitions in an Age of Global ChangePART V - THE DAWN OF THE INDUSTRIAL AGE, 1750-1900 The Emergence of Industrial Society in the West, 1750-1900Industrialization and Imperialism: The Making of the European Global OrderThe Consolidation of Latin America, 1810-1920Civilizations in Crisis: The Ottoman Empire, the Islamic Heartlands, and Qing ChinaRussia and Japan: Industrialization Outside the WestPART VI - THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD, 1900-PRESENT Descent into the Abyss: World War I and the Crisis of the European Global OrderThe World Between the Wars: Revolutions, Depression, and Authoritarian ResponseA Second Global Conflict and the End of the European World OrderGlobalization and Industrial GrowthWestern Society and Eastern Europe in the Decades of the Cold WarLatin America: Revolution and Reaction into the Twenty-First CenturyAfrica, the Middle East, and Asia in the Era of IndependenceRebirth and Revolution: Nation-Building in East Asia and the Pacific RimPower, Politics, and Conflict in World History, 1990-2019Volume 1 includes chapters 1-21; Volume 2 includes chapters 21-41.

About our authors Peter N. Stearns is University Professor at George Mason University, where he regularly teaches a freshman world history course. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has taught at Rutgers University, the University of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon, where he won the Robert Doherty Educational Leadership Award. He also founded and long edited the Journal of Social History. He has written widely in world history, including his most recent book, Time in World History. Other books address modern social and cultural history and include studies on gender, old age, work and emotion, including a recent title, Shame: A Brief History.Michael Adas is the Abraham Voorhees Professor of History and a Board of Governors chair at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Over the past couple of decades his teaching has focused on courses dealing with European and American colonial expansion and African and Asian responses as well as global history in the twentieth century. In addition to texts on world history, Adas has written numerous books and articles on the impact of and resistance to Western colonialism and the importance of technology in those processes. His books include Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance, which won the Dexter Prize in 1992, and more recently Dominance by Design: Technological Imperatives and America's Civilizing Mission. In 2012, he was awarded the Toynbee Prize for his lifetime contributions to global history and cross-cultural understanding. He is currently working on a comparative study of the ways in which British and American soldiers' responses to the wars of attrition in the trenches of World War I and in Vietnam contributed to the decline of each of these global powers.Stuart B. Schwartz was born and educated in Springfield, Massachusetts, and then attended Middlebury College and the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in Latin American history. He taught for many years at the University of Minnesota and joined the faculty at Yale University in 1996. He has also taught in Brazil, Puerto Rico, Spain, France and Portugal. He is a specialist on the history of colonial Latin America, especially Brazil, and is the author of numerous books, notably Sugar Plantations in the Formation of Brazilian Society (1985), which won the Bolton Prize for the best book in Latin American History. He is also the author of Slaves, Peasants and Rebels (1992), Early Latin America (1983), and Victors and Vanquished (1999). He has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton). For his work on Brazil, he was decorated by the Brazilian government. His book All Can Be Saved (2008) won the Bolton Prize as well as 3 awards from the American Historical Association.Marc Jason Gilbert is the holder of the National Endowment for the Humanities Endowed Chair in World History at Hawai'i Pacific University in Honolulu, Hawaii. After receiving his Ph.D. from UCLA, he was for many years Co-Director of Programs in South and Southeast Asia for the University System of Georgia and was recognized by that System as a Board of Regents Distinguished Professor of Teaching and Learning. He has benefited from various fellowships, which have enabled him to study in Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, India, Tanzania and Yemen. He has directed world history academic conferences and workshops for teachers in Cambodia and Vietnam. He is also a past President of the World History Association and the current editor of a WHA-affiliated journal, World History Connected. His publications explore the histories of India, Vietnam and global cultural exchange. His most recent work is Cross-Cultural Encounters in Modern World History (2012), with Jon Thares Davidann.

• Brief Table of Contents PART I - 2.5 MILLION-600 B.C.E.: ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT The Neolithic Revolution and the Birth of CivilizationThe Rise of Civilization in the Middle East and AfricaAsia's First Civilizations: India and ChinaPART II - THE CLASSICAL PERIOD, 600 B.C.E.-600 C.E.: UNITING LARGE REGIONS Unification and the Consolidation of Civilization in ChinaClassical Civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle EastReligious Rivalries and India's Golden AgeRome and Its EmpireThe Peoples and Civilizations of the AmericasThe Spread of Civilizations and the Movement of PeoplesThe End of the Classical Era: World History in Transition, 200-600 c.e.PART III - THE POSTCLASSICAL PERIOD, 600-1450: NEW FAITH AND NEW COMMERCE The First Global Civilization: The Rise and Spread of IslamAbbasid Decline and the Spread of Islamic Civilization to South and Southeast AsiaAfrican Civilizations and the Spread of IslamCivilization in Eastern Europe: Byzantium and Orthodox EuropeA New Civilization Emerges in Western EuropeThe Americas on the Eve of InvasionReunification and Renaissance in Chinese Civilization: The Era of the Tang and Song DynastiesThe Spread of Chinese Civilization: Japan, Korea, and VietnamThe Last Great Nomadic Challenges: From Chinggis Khan to TimurThe World in 1450: Changing Balance of World PowerPART IV - THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD, 1450-1750: THE WORLD SHRINKS The World EconomyThe Transformation of the West, 1450-1750Early Latin AmericaAfrica and the Africans in the Age of the Atlantic Slave TradeThe Rise of RussiaThe Muslim EmpiresAsian Transitions in an Age of Global ChangePART V - THE DAWN OF THE INDUSTRIAL AGE, 1750-1900 The Emergence of Industrial Society in the West, 1750-1900Industrialization and Imperialism: The Making of the European Global OrderThe Consolidation of Latin America, 1810-1920Civilizations in Crisis: The Ottoman Empire, the Islamic Heartlands, and Qing ChinaRussia and Japan: Industrialization Outside the WestPART VI - THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD, 1900-PRESENT Descent into the Abyss: World War I and the Crisis of the European Global OrderThe World Between the Wars: Revolutions, Depression, and Authoritarian ResponseA Second Global Conflict and the End of the European World OrderGlobalization and Industrial GrowthWestern Society and Eastern Europe in the Decades of the Cold WarLatin America: Revolution and Reaction into the Twenty-First CenturyAfrica, the Middle East, and Asia in the Era of IndependenceRebirth and Revolution: Nation-Building in East Asia and the Pacific RimPower, Politics, and Conflict in World History, 1990-2019Volume 1 includes chapters 1-21; Volume 2 includes chapters 21-41.