The industrial revolution was the single most important development in human history over the past three centuries, and it continues to shape the contemporary world. With new methods and organizations for producing goods, industrialization altered where people live, how they play, and even how they [...]

This new entry in the Longman Library of World Biography series offers the compelling story of Wu Zhao - one woman's unlikely and remarkable ascent to the apex of political power in the patriarchal society of traditional China. Wu Zhao, Woman Emperor of China is the account of the first and only fem[...]

Emphasizes the major interactions among different peoples and societies.  World History in Brief highlights key events in world history, giving adequate treatment to the major issues, while leaving time for analysis and use of supplemental materials for critical thinking.  Part of the Penguin Acad[...]

Drawing on research of the consumer experience in the West and Japan, this title examines societies less renowned for consumerism, such as Africa. By relating consumerism to other issues in world history, it forces reassessment of our understanding of both consumerism and global history. It is suita[...]

Defended by a host of passionate advocates and organizations, certain standard human rights have come to represent a quintessential component of global citizenship. There are, however, a number of societies who dissent from this orthodoxy, either in general or on particular issues, on the basis of p[...]

Praise for the first edition: 'Those seeking a primer on the field...might well begin here' - "H-Childhood, H-Net Reviews". 'a succinct and deft survey...Undoubtedly this book will be a godsend to teachers...In the assured hands of Stearns, with his readily accessible style, readers will come away m[...]

The idea of globalization is currently inescapable, though the term and the theory attached date back only to the 1990s. History helps clarify where globalization comes from, how it relates to broad processes of change, and why it rouses controversy. In Globalization in World History, Peter N. Stear[...]

Cool. The concept has distinctly American qualities and it permeates almost every aspect of contemporary American culture. From Kool cigarettes and the Peanuts cartoon's Joe Cool to West Side Story (Keep cool, boy.) and urban slang (Be cool. Chill out.), the idea of cool, in its many manifestation[...]

Covering societies from classical times to the twenty-first century, Gender in World History is a fascinating exploration of what happens to established ideas about men, women, and gender roles when different cultural systems come into contact. The book breaks new ground to facilitate a consistent a[...]