World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500

Opinión de Timothy Fitzgerald, Associate Professor of History, James Madison University on 9/18/22

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

The text aims to be comprehensive geographically, but such coverage is imbalanced. Following a traditional approach to world history, Western/European content is thicker and more differentiated. For example, all of Africa is examined, if thoughtfully, in one short chapter (about 30 pages in a 480-page book). Each chapter provides guide questions and key terms—often too many for this reviewer. There is no comprehensive index.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 4

This long, full text includes a lot of information about very many times, places, cultures, and historical subfields. Any one scholar cannot assess the accuracy of all of it. But, the material presented in the fields with which this reviewer is best acquainted is generally accurate, if not cutting-edge. There is a laudable effort to avoid bias and present different perspectives on some contested topics—e.g., the peopling of the Americas.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 3

One basic limitation to relevance/longevity is the text’s fundamental approach, which organizes chapters by geography and favors political history (states, empires, dynasties, etc.). More thematic pedagogic designs, and ones that emphasize “connections” and “encounters” among peoples, have moved away from texts like this one.

Claridad clasificación: 4

Though chapters are separately authored and each has a distinctive style and set of interests, the writing is clear. However, there is a lot of detailed information presented—too much for the typical undergraduate, in this reviewer’s opinion—making the material potentially overwhelming at times.

Consistencia clasificación: 4

The text’s basic structure is consistent. Each chapter provides a chronology, guide questions, key terms, and information on further reading and primary sources. But, such information varies in quantity and in kind and, again, can be too much—there are over 100 key terms for the chapter on Rome!

Modularidad clasificación: 4

The text offers many separately-titled subsections. The discussion is self-referential in some instances (referring readers to other chapters). Chapters vary in length, and topical coverage within each tends to be idiosyncratic—there are few obvious thematic through-lines. Geographic coverage is imbalanced, so even an instructor pursuing a “civilizational” approach would likely need to supplement and reorganize. On balance, the book appears more “modular” than “integrated.”

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

Again, the text is organized geographically and has a chronological drift, moving from prehistory to the 16th Century. Chapter subsections tend to follow a traditional emphasis on political history, at least for narrative framing. Treatment of some topics (e.g., trade and war) shows connections across societies, and there are a few brief attempts at global comparison. But coverage tends to be more interested in the “trees” than the “forest.”

Interfaz clasificación: 4

The interface is accessible and easy to navigate. Though reliance on maps and figures available in the public domain (mainly Wikimedia Commons) means their quality and utility varies. Some images are blurry and pixilated. Maps sometimes present an overwhelming number of place names and introduce inconsistences in spelling that could confuse students. There are broken web-links, and at least one interactive map does not function properly.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 4

The writing is generally clear and free of grammatical errors. Though the spelling (transliteration) of proper names and technical terms is not always accurate and consistent.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 3

The text offers a traditional approach to world history. It emphasizes coverage by geographic region and is heavy on information/“facts.” While this design continues to have merits—and there are welcome maneuvers in this text, such as discrete attention to Central Asia—other approaches could be considered more current and inclusive. Important topics like gender and environmental history are buried. Moreover, the text’s more detailed coverage of Western/European history makes a statement about the relative importance of the non-West, which could alienate students and cause them to miss important changes in the field of world history that have enhanced its “relevance” in recent decades.

For this reviewer, parts of this text might be used to advantage in a world history survey course. But it cannot stand alone.

Opinión de Yongguang Hu, Associate Professor, James Madison University on 5/12/22

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

It does a good job of covering major events in European history, but it does not provide an equal amount of information on other parts of the world. For example, it uses four pages to discuss the transitional period from Caesar to Augustus. But for a non-western region, these four pages would cover some major events of several centuries.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

I am impressed by the quality of the content. Although it should give more attention to non-western history, it does have an accurate understanding of the world. I appreciate how it describes the major achievements of the Song dynasty in China. Many famous commercial textbooks fail to do that. It is also one of a few titles addressing the history of native peoples in the world. When it comes to European history, the sheer amount of information is noteworthy too.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 4

Since its publication, there have been some newly acknowledged understandings that the authors could use in the future. For example, localism or the "localist turn" is a very important notion among American historians working on late imperial China. The nature of the Mongol Empire could be further explained. China's early modern period started from the Song, not the Ming.

Claridad clasificación: 4

Its text is accessible, and I don't find any jargon in the book. On the other hand, the writing is sometimes plain. If the writing style was more compelling, it would motivate more students to further explore history.

Consistencia clasificación: 4

One major issue of this text is its overemphasis on western civilization. Too many chapters are devoted to discussing the typical western line, from Greece to Rome, and from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the early modern. Other regions do have their individual chapters, but one such chapter often covers the entire history from the beginning to 1500.

Modularidad clasificación: 2

This is the biggest drawback. No one teaches world history by spending one month on the non-west and another two months on Europe. The current framework is almost unusable. If I assign this book to my class, I have to pick out certain pages for my lectures, and students have to jump back and forth to find references. Following chronological order would be much better.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 3

Within each region, the content is fine. But the relations between world regions are barely covered. World history focuses on interconnectedness and the global exchange of commodities, ideas, plants and animals, and people. The book has a long way to go.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

The book looks nice, and all the maps, pictures, and graphs are used clearly and efficiently.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

I don't see any grammatical errors.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 3

The text does not treat non-western peoples seriously. European history is given too much attention. The implication is that only the west matters in history. As many scholars have indicated in recent decades, the centers of the world were in the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia before 1500.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this book. If I were to assign it to my survey class, I would make many changes and add more content on Asia, Africa, and Americas.

Opinión de Faith Skiles, Adjunct Instructor, History Department, Virginia Tech on 4/8/22

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

First, I want to applaud the tremendous effort and work that undoubtedly went in to producing this open access textbook. The scope of history covered is truly comprehensive for an introductory textbook on World History and the authors cover political and military history without excluding gender, intellectual, and cultural histories. However, the coverage of individual geographical world regions is unfortunately uneven. As many other reviewers have mentioned, European history gets more coverage than other region. I see this as the hardest hurdle for me to overcome in incorporating this textbook into my classes . (A hurdle though, that I am going to endeavor to leap.) To offset this unevenness, some reviewers suggested more coverage in other regions, and I think for the chapter on the Americas, this is true. However, my suggestion would be to make Europe’s treatment more on par with other sections of the textbook since this is for an introductory course. The book does not contain an index or glossary, which of course, if included, would be helpful.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

I see no problems with accuracies. Different debates on historical events continue. Authors of this textbook often reference these debates. However, if they are not mentioned, this provides a great opportunity for instructors to update students on the latest debates.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

As in any history text, information would need to be up-dated as new scholarship comes to light. The way in which the text is written would make updates extremely easy to do. I believe this textbook will remain relevant for a number of years yet,

Claridad clasificación: 5

The text, for me, was clear, lucid and accessible and I believe it would be for students as well. There are some mentions of scholars students might not know. However,I found little “jargony" language in the text. I think I do remember the use of teleology once…..,

Consistencia clasificación: 4

A textbook created by different authors, as many textbook are, will not be completely consistent in writing styles or emphases. This is true for this textbook as well. Each chapter does, however, employ the same rough overall framework, which brings consistency to the book.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The modularity would seem to make it easily divisible into smaller reading sections. Subheadings are present and are easily recognizable to someone who teaches world history. Reading through the book I was taking notes on how I would use different sections in my world history course.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 2

If you like to teach World History one region at a time, you will like the organization of this book. I do not like this approach, however. It limits students from seeing cross-cultural trends like the rise of major world religions within a similar time frame. Also, cross- cultural interactions between regions is not a “modern” phenomenon but one that dates back to the earliest complex societies. I can understand why the authors would choose this organization, but it does not give students the opportunity to identify trends and concepts arising from and similar to different regions of the world.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

Overall, I like the interface. I especially like the open access images used. They are great. Some links, however, do not work. This is very frustrating for students and would produce a number of emails letting me know they aren't working.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

I did not notice any grammatical errors. However, I am not good at noticing them while reading a book.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

For the most part, the writing is culturally sensitive. Fellow reviewers have pointed out a few places that might be written with a bit more sensitivity. However, on a positive note, I really appreciate the discussion on the concept of civilization at the beginning of Chapter two.

Overall, I would highly recommend this textbook. I like the idea of using an open access textbook and this one covers topics well and is well-written. My plan is to adapt it to fit my thematic, roughly chronological organization. I will most likely leave some of the material on Europe on the editor's floor and add some of my own. But isn’t that part of what makes teaching unique and fun.

Opinión de Charles Young, Associate Professor, Umpqua Community College on 7/19/21

Exhaustividad clasificación: 5 ver menos

The textbook has a straightforward chronological direction that provides good foundation for what comes next historically across the world stage. It is reasonably comprehensive in covering world cultures, states, and societies beyond the not uncommon over emphasis on western civilizations. The depth given to Chinese history as well as the Americas and Africa to 1500 is particularly good. For such a broad coverage of world history there are understandably some areas given short shrift, such as factors in the rapid spread of Islam and in the rise of the Mongols and the significance of their extensive empire to increased world trade and communications, but comprehensiveness is, as I said before, pretty good.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

Accuracy is error free and unbiased. In a few areas more depth would have strengthened understanding, such as in the rise of the Persian Empire. That is, in my opinion, an example where brevity lost an element of clarity. These too abbreviated examples are few however.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

Textbook will need further revision given the ever increasing realization in recent years of the extent of Eurocentric bias that still infuses so much of our educational system's perspective, but this text is better than most at avoiding that. More focus on lack of rights for women and the challenges they have face, and still face, is a specific area for further revision.

Claridad clasificación: 5

The text narrative is very lucid and accessible in prose. There is excellent context and explanation for jargon and technical terminology used.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

The text is internally consistent in terminology and framework. There is an excellent balancing of text with images, maps, charts, and statistics. Key terms chapter by chapter are very helpful to understanding as are the inserted in depth focuses.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The text is outstanding in being readily divisible into smaller reading sections. There are not long blocks of reading material. Instead, there are effective use of subheadings and interspersing of appropriate maps and other visual imagery. An example of excellent, manageable text focus are the pages 80-85 on the rise of the Upanishadic Worldview and its leading to Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 5

Text topics are presented in a logical, clear fashion. I would have be more clear as to the Ming Dynasty merging more into the early modern period but, again, attempting to cover all of world history to 1500 is bound to leave some areas with less depth than desired. I would have had more on the significance of Sparta to the Classical Ancient Greek world, and of the creation of the trireme fleet along with the hoplite phalanxes as crucial to the rise of democracy but, again, the text does a pretty good overall comprehensive job.

Interfaz clasificación: 5

Interface is excellent in that balancing of textual narrative with images and maps.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

I see no significant grammatical errors.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

The text is not culturally insensitive and is inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

I definitely recommend this textbook and intend to use it myself in my world history classes. I would have preferred that it went from the Paleolithic to around 1000 C.E. and then had a part two from that point to the present but I can work this "to 1500" chronology into a three term schoolyear.

Opinión de Deanna Brandenberger, Instructor of History & Anthropology, Aiken Technical College on 3/5/21

Exhaustividad clasificación: 3 ver menos

This book is an incredible feat of collaborative materials designed to blanket the dearth of information that encompasses the totality of World History. In truth, I am not sure that a perfect product for this mission is ever entirely possible. With such a large compendium, it inevitably falls short in certain areas, giving time and space to discussions regarding traditionally focused cultures (as some other reviewers have commented: Eurocentric), and arguably less to less familiar civilizations such as East Asia and The Americas. The text does provide keyword indices at the beginning of the chapters, but the bolded key terms are not always situated within the text that makes them readily accessible to those who will be searching for clear definitions and a reliable format of studying. There is also no glossary at the end of the textbook to provide succinct definitions or page numbers for reference which are crucial to cross-referencing study tactics.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 3

While many of us are considered subject matter experts in the overall information that is "World History," we are more specifically suited to our field niches. For me, this would be the Americas chapter. Unfortunately, I found some of the information too brief, confusing, and not exactly comprehensive. Futhermore, what concerned me is the sources that were referenced. How can you examine the Nahuas (Aztecs) without looking at Charles Gibson, the Maya without looking at James Lockhart, or the Inka without looking at Gary Urton? They have produced the leading historiographical monographs of these civilizations and yet they are not mentioned. Certain tidbits of information seem to be jammed together, such as the progress of the Olmec, Toltec, Zapotec, and Mixtec, Huastec, etc.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 2

While I think it is admirable that the author tried to include civilizations that are not always included within the scope of Western Civilization courses, I think these chapters are not as comprehensive or given the same attention as the traditional European civilizations. It is important that the author took this step, but it will certainly need updating and a collaborative effort might be the best way to do this.

Claridad clasificación: 3

One of the most important things with scholastic resources, is that they have to meet the reader where they are at. Students taking this class may see this resource as offputting due to the lofty diction that is utilized at times. This author can write very well, but it seems that the audience being written for is not necessarily suited to an introductory class. It felt a bit like reading a dissertation in places with extraneous information and verbiage. As I have previously noted, a textbook should have clear outlines of information and bolding key terms and providing succinct definitions can help the student to focus on specific sections, rather than having to go back and forth through the expansive- even though elegant- prose.

Consistencia clasificación: 3

First, let me say again that I appreciate that the author acknowledged a need for more diversity in the literature available and I appreciate the the attempt to become more inclusive of the subaltern. However, like other reviewers, one of the biggest issues is the inconsistency of length of chapters and breadth dedicated to specific civilizations and cultures. While the author incorporates the Indus and Chinese civilizations into the timeline of traditional Western Civilization, the chapters on The Americas is woefully cut short and anachronistic in the chronology of chapter dedication. For example, when the Olmec and Toltec civilizations were constructing massive architecture such as Teotihuacan, you had the philosophers of Greece coming into prominence. Yet, the Americas jams two continents and countless civilizations together in a short chapter at the end of the book, presumably to align with the Conquest of the New World beginning in 1492. This in itself is quite problematic and should be addressed.

Modularidad clasificación: 3

As I previously mentioned, the prose is quite profuse at times and reads much like an extensive essay. This could be problematic when trying to break up the chapters into reasonable subject focused readings.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 3

The organization for the most part is good, taking the traditional chronological approach. My objection to this are the chapters on Africa and the Americas primarily, which do not fall into the same formula. Rather, they seem to have been added on principle of inclusion rather than being properly incorporated into the other chapters. Speaking plainly: the author at times alternates between a chronological and geographical model which can prove inconsistent in places.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

I love the use of photographs of sites, artifacts, diagrams, maps, etc. and that they are in color and ready for public use. These help illustrate and enhance the information we are asking students to memorize and the visual cue gives elaboration to the information and concepts being described. The author has picked out some very beautiful images. My only complaint here is that some of the digital links are corrupted. For example, the very first link of the book is redirected to an Error 504 page. I am not sure if there is a way to permanently connect these, but if they are going to be listed, then they will need to ensure they are reliable; otherwise, this resource will need to be continually monitored and updated.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 4

There were some minor grammatical errors that I noticed. For example, in Chapter 10 (the Americas), the author calls the Tlaxcalans incorrectly "Tlazcalan." This could have been a simple mispelling. While not necessarily an error, in Chapter 2 (Egypt): the author uses the description of Afterworld rather than Underworld to describe a deity. This seems like a portmanteau concept of Afterlife and Underworld. It is not common and might be confusing to the students. I believe a more clear description of the Underworld transcending into the Afterlife (according to the Book of the Dead/ Papyrus of Ani) would be appropriate there.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

If anything, I think that it is very clear this author was dedicated to diversity and inclusivity. While all chapters may not have been equal in these measures, the attempt is there and it is clear that this is a mammoth task! One of the most important things is that these items be revisited and elaborated upon in future editions. Particularly, as we navigate the historiography of subaltern cultures, some information will change, new information will be added, and outdated paradigms need to be discarded.

I would have liked to see a little more cohesive discussion and imagery with the evolution of bipedal hominids. Photographs and flowcharts would be especially helpful here. I would also recommend looking at the oldest mummy Otzi, to discuss the transition from foraging to agricultural models.

Opinión de Kelli Nakamura, Associate Professor, Kapiolani Community College on 3/3/21

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

The textbook is well organized along chronological as well as geographic lines. I appreciate its efforts to comprehensively address issues such as geography, economics, culture, and politics. I like the fact that the chapters begin with a chronology, key terms, and questions to consider which might help direct a student's reading. I also commend the author for including "works consulted and further reading" at the end as well as links to primary sources. One area that I saw that was missing was the Pacific as Austronesians (Lapita people) were notable for engaging in the most extensive overseas migration. Additionally, some discussion of South East Asia (e.g. Vietnam) might be helpful to readers (beyond simply being tributaries of China).

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

I appreciate the fact that this book provides wide coverage of World History and addresses multiple societies. Too often "world history" textbooks are just focused on European history.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

The best part about history (especially in a discussion about ancient history) is that changes in historical interpretations don't often occur. For a textbook about World History, this information will not be irrelevant in the near future.

Claridad clasificación: 5

I appreciate the fact that the terminology in the book is relatively straightforward and key terms are clearly explained (e.g. Polytheistic: belief in many gods). College students should not find this book difficult to read.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

A consistent framework organizes the book's chapters: Chronology, Introduction; Questions to Guide Your Reading; Key Terms; Works Consulted and Further Reading; and Links to Primary Sources.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The book is easily readable and the sections are clearly organized. I wish the bolded terms were potentially highlighted in a different color just to set it off from the body of the text.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

The book is well organized chronologically and geographically. I wish there was more cross-cultural analysis/comparison as this just reads like a standard history textbook (lots of dates/facts/people). It might be relevant to include the current relevance of this information for students today.

Interfaz clasificación: 3

I did have some issues when I clicked on links in the primary sources section or the "works consulted and further reading" section as either the links were broken or I had to adjust my settings. Many of these settings linked to other textual-based sources and I was hoping for a more dynamic interface. Also, I wish that there were instructions on how to cite or quote from these selections as that would be an issue for my students.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

The book is well written with no grammatical issues.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 4

I appreciate the book's wide coverage of peoples and cultures and its impartial historical contextualization/explanation of potentially sensitive topics like religion. I wish there was more coverage on the experiences of women, even to highlight their exceptionalism (like Empress Wu/Wu Zhao) in the text itself. Additionally, it would be useful to analyze cross-cultural interactions such as Zheng He and Marco Polo (expand the latter beside a link to primary sources).

At 487 pages, this book may be challenging/intimidating for students to read. I currently assign a "brief" version of the textbook to encourage students to read (it is about half of this) and having them read is still a challenge. An explanation of how to use/understand primary sources might help both readers, as well as professors as simply linking to Marco Polo in primary sources, does not explain his connection to the content under discussion. Also, I was hoping for questions to guide an understanding of the primary source besides just listing it for the reader.

Opinión de Jessica Hammerman, Associate Professor, Central Oregon Community College on 1/6/21

Exhaustividad clasificación: 3 ver menos

I think it is definitely comprehensive in terms of narrative.
A few problems; too much detail; not enough focus (beyond geography). Other World History books have sections to take us through different segments of the population
I like the citing of primary sources, but they should be accessible apart from the text.
Key terms lists are great for each chapter, but it seems confusing or overwhelming for a student to read on their own.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

Good citing; good maps; good representations of the known past. nice balance on regions of the world and genders.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

World history is hard to make irrelevant. The areas of Mesoamerican and African strengthen this book and the inclusion of women's lives is solid.

Claridad clasificación: 4

It is clear and the vocabulary lists are great. But students need themes and breakdowns. Not just a comprehensive outline of every single thing that happened. Great bibliography. The linking system to primary sources is good for instructors but not students.

Consistencia clasificación: 4

Each chapter is around 40 pages give or take. the vocabulary lists (key terms) for each chapter are lengthy as well. There are links to primary sources at the end of each chapter. The only curious thing is merging Byzantium with Western Europe. I would place them seperately.

Modularidad clasificación: 2

This is the weakness of the book. The pages are dense and the information is not easily divvied up. Should be columns.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 2

This is divided geographically instead of thematically and chronologically. I think this is an okay way to do it, although my personal preference is to divide a book by theme, then you get a sense of the awesomeness of a particular period, such as the "Axial Age" which includes Confucius, Socrates, Jeremiah, Buddha, and others were all thinking of new ideas and solutions around the world at the same time. I also don't like the huge, 500-year chapters.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

i like the linkable TOC -- keep an eye on the primary sources links to make sure they are up to date.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

I couldn't see any.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 4

It may have some more "traditional" history perspectives, but to be fair it's hard to do ancient and medieval history super sensitively. To say Columbus "discovered" the New World is a bit insensitive-- i prefer encountered. Things like that...

Opinión de Jeannie Harding, Adjunct Professor, James Madison University on 11/21/20

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

This text covers most of the major civilizations that are emphasized in an ancient world history course, but it omits smaller civilizations like those in ancient Japan, Southeast Asia, and Polynesia. I also felt that it drastically shortchanged Africa and the Americas, both of which received fairly cursory treatment. For example, in the chapter on the Americas--and there is only one chapter devoted to that region--the Aztec only get two pages, and a good portion of that consists of images.

There is no index, only a very simple "find" tool to locate a specific term, and there is no glossary.

In general, I found the text to be broad but not very deep and similar to the coverage found in a standard “brief edition” textbook published by many companies.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 4

I did not detect any glaring inaccuracies. The individual sections appear to be edited well.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 4

I think it’s time for this source to be updated to reflect the shift away from Eurocentrism. Europe receives a deeper treatment than most other continents here, and that can and should be rectified quickly. Otherwise, this is a great starting place for instructors, and they can supplement content as needed.

Claridad clasificación: 3

I found this to be a fairly dense, dry read. Each chapter has an exhaustive list of key terms, too numerous to be of any real help in guiding students’ reading. When I used this text during the sudden move online in Spring 2020, I provided a short background for my students before they tackled each section, and I gave them my own list of key terms to help them focus their reading. I feel some chapters delve too far into minutia and side plots that distract from the most important concepts. My survey course students require some guidance in navigating the reading and discerning which information is important.

Consistencia clasificación: 4

The overall framework of the text is consistent, with chronology, guided reading questions, and key terms attached to each chapter. Each chapter begins with a discussion of geography and a map; this is a format I use in lectures, and I like that the source mirrors that. I found that the depth of coverage on topics is somewhat inconsistent throughout the text, with some societies receiving more attention than others.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The modularity of the text was one of its strongest points. The text is structured in the same way I organize my class, largely chronological. I liked that the Table of Contents could be turned on to show continually in the margin so that the reader can move easily between chapters. The sections within each chapter are clearly labeled, and the only issue I see is that the search function operates like the “Find” tool in a Word document, which is cumbersome.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 5

The organizational structure makes sense. Each chapter is devoted to a region of the world chronologically, but it lacks continuity between chapters. As a textbook, each chapter functions independently.

Interfaz clasificación: 3

Each chapter provides a nice list of primary sources with links, but if students download the Adobe version (which I recommend), the links sometimes do not work. I found several bad links, including a good number to the sources from Fordham, which I apparently do not have permission to view. This and the rudimentary search function detailed above are major drawbacks.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

There were no obvious grammatical errors that I noticed.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 4

As noted above, Europe receives more attention and more detailed coverage than other areas, so most instructors in a “World History” course may want to supplement what is provided here. As an example, China gets only one chapter to discuss its history from the Shang to the Ming! I would like to see the non-European sections expanded.

For instructors who typically utilize "brief editions" of textbooks or who have time to modify or add to this text, I think this could be a good choice. If you prefer a text that provides more detail for your students and is easier to read--perhaps something you can assign without having to supplement very much--I suggest you look elsewhere. In the spring semester of 2020 when I had to find an OER for my class that suddenly moved online, this worked, but I switched back to my favorite standard textbook for the next semester.

Opinión de Jennifer Welsh, Term Assistant Professor of History, University of Alaska, Southeast on 11/2/20, updated 12/16/20

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

This text balances a mix of broadening coverage to include geographical areas which are frequently ignored or discussed only briefly in World History texts (the Byzantine Empire and Central Asia, for example) with a problematic tendency to stuff all of the history of non-Western areas into a single chapter. There is only one chapter for the entire history of Africa until around 1500, for example, and all of Chinese history up until the Ming Dynasty is likewise crammed into a single chapter. Given that Greece and Rome each get their own chapters and Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire gets one chapter on history from 500 until roughly 1000 and another covering history from 1000 until 1500, this means that Western history is getting much more space than the rest of the world. While this means that Eastern Europe and the Byzantine Empire are given much stronger coverage than found in many World History textbooks, it also means that non-Western areas are shortchanged. The first chapter, covering human origins and prehistory, is only half as long as the others, and is thus providing only a very brief summary of a very long period of time.
Each chapter includes a list of key terms, but there is no overall index or glossary. The lack of an index is somewhat mitigated by the use of subheadings and divisions within the chapter, and the list of key terms. That does not mean that it wouldn’t be better to have a full index that students could use to look up concepts or names that they can’t place geographically or chronologically.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 4

The content of this textbook is generally error-free and unbiased. There are areas where students could engage in discussion about differing points of view, or instructors could supplement the content of the book with additional information to fill in gaps or provide different theories. The authors also acknowledge potential areas of difficulty. For example, when discussing the history of the ancient Israelites and the kingdom of Israel, the problems with relying on Scripture as a source are clearly explained, and the inclusion of archaeological and other sources when possible is highlighted.
In spite of the generally high level of accuracy, there are some areas that could be improved. The chapter on India begins with a strong discussion of the cultural and religious variety that has defined the subcontinent, and notes that the historical boundaries of “India” are much wider than the present-day nation of India. However, at the end of the chapter, when giving demographic information about religion in modern India, the authors say that India is approximately 80% Hindu and 15% Muslim, and do not mention the existence of Pakistan and Bangladesh (p 106). Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt, is contextualized via a reference to her fame largely revolving around her love affairs with Caesar and Marcus Antonius- while it is true that that’s how she is remembered, framing her that way is dismissive and a missed opportunity on the part of the authors to talk about gender, power, and history (p 211).

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

This textbook was clearly written using recent research and relevant concerns. For example, the chapter on Africa provides valuable, thought-provoking material about the history of colonialism and the ways in which the legacies of slavery and Imperialism have shaped our perceptions of the continent and its diverse cultures. The fact that Central Asia (including the Mongol Empire) gets its own chapter is another good sign of relevance and inclusion.

The structure of the book means that making changes and additions will be fairly easy, either by splitting and expanding existing chapters, adding or replacing individual sections, or making edits within a section.

Claridad clasificación: 5

The level of the prose in this textbook is appropriate for a college survey class. The inclusion of a key word section at the start of each chapter is also helpful, as it gives students information about what they should be paying particular attention to. Terms are also briefly explained within the text as needed.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

This textbook demonstrates a solidly consistent structure from chapter to chapter, including starting each chapter with a chronology, providing a list of key terms, drawing the reader in with an anecdote or primary source to start the chapter, a list of questions to guide the reading, and a concluding section with bibliographies of primary and secondary sources, both printed and online. Within the chapters, there is a good mix of maps and images, drawn almost entirely from Wikimedia Commons. That does lead to variations in the map style and some inconsistencies about attribution (is the “author” the creator of the work or the person who took the picture that was on Wikimedia Commons?)

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The structure of this textbook is easily dividable, with each chapter containing subheadings and sections that could easily be assigned piecemeal. It would be easy to shift the order of the non-Western chapters around (although that also indicates that there is too much of a focus on Western civilizations)- for example, discussing Central Asia and China in closer proximity than their respective chapters are. It would also, in theory, be possible to assign one section of one chapter and then follow it with a section from another chapter- for example, if the instructor wanted to interrupt the discussion of India with a discussion of Islam before returning to talk about Islam’s impact on Indian civilization.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 5

The organization of this textbook is generally good; the chapters on Western Europe and Byzantium progress in chronological order (following a chapter on Greece and a chapter on Rome), while the chapters covering larger geographical areas have good internal organization. When there is a reference to another content area, the specific reference is provided.

The chapters themselves generally follow the same thematic structure, which is helpful.

Interfaz clasificación: 5

Navigating this textbook was quite straightforward, and the text itself was very readable. There were some maps (taken from Wikipedia) that suffered from small font size from the original source, usually an older geography book. The attribution of the images and maps could use some editing; pulling material from Wikimedia Commons means that the source attributions given can vary widely, and the difference between something that is treated as a personal name and something that is defined as “user” can be awkward- just because “Locutus Borg” looks like a personal name does not mean it is (p 345).

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

The text is well-edited and contains almost no grammatical or typesetting errors. Any minor errors do not detract from the readability of the text.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 4

The authors of this text are clearly working hard to be inclusive and present a wide range of examples. However, because the chapters themselves are skewed towards European history, there are fewer non-European examples presented in the text. There are also some chapters that start out with anecdotes drawn from European sources even though the chapter is focused on other parts of the world. Why does the chapter about Africa need to start with the boasts of a Portuguese raider? Why is Cortes the best choice to start the chapter on the Americas?

Overall, this is a very solid textbook for a World History survey course, with plenty of material for discussion and analysis. The length of the textbook (12 chapters) means that instructors could supplement this textbook with additional materials, possibly dividing one of the chapters that covers an immense chronological scope and adding readings to deepen coverage.

Opinión de Chris Brooks, Instructor in History, Portland Community College on 6/21/20

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

Most of the chapters are dense with information and do not skip over important events, individuals, or phenomena. There are some peculiar lacunae, however. For example, there are a few offhand references to the Bronze Age, but no detailed discussion of it or the Iron Age. The Persian Empire is treated like a historical afterthought, which is a real problem since Persia represents one of the most venerable and influential cultures in world history. As other reviewers have noted, the book is strangely Eurocentric in the sense that it simply devotes more attention to European history than it does to the histories of other regions, which is an imbalance that would be obvious to savvy students.

One noteworthy omission is the lack of a general introduction at the start of the book. Given how detailed and robust the book is in general, that absence is puzzling.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

There are places in which phrasing implies something that isn’t quite true - for instance, Mesopotamian empires did not directly transition from the Akkadian Empire of Sargon the Great to the Babylonian Empire of Hammurabi centuries later (to name a single intervening empire, there was the “Ur III” dynasty). Likewise, “Pharaoh” was the term for the king of Egypt only during the New Kingdom. That noted, I did not detect any significant errors, with the exception of a single typo: Edward Gibbon was an historian alive during the Eighteenth Century CE, not the Nineteenth (page 224).

One issue that might ruffle some feathers for students but still deserves attention is that there is, in fact, no textual or architectural corroboration from Egyptian sources of the Hebrew Exodus. The book discusses some of the problems of using the Hebrew Bible as a historical source, but it still describes the Exodus as if it definitely happened, which simply cannot be confirmed.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 4

The topics are relevant and well-chosen. The authors deserve full credit for including robust discussions of all of the major subfields of history (i.e. intellectual, political, gender, etc.) in most chapters. If anything, an issue for students might be that the book is too dense in many places. The long digression on the problem of source analysis in the context of the ancient Greeks, for example, might lull 100-level history students to sleep. Likewise, there are occasional references to terms, people, and concepts that many students simply do not know about: e.g., “She and hundreds of other scholars from Hobbes to Marx” (page 12). I would anticipate many history instructors opting to copy and paste sections of the book to keep it more manageable for students rather than assigning the whole thing, which of course is precisely a benefit of using an OER.

Claridad clasificación: 4

One issue with the book’s clarity is its density, as noted above. Another is simply a byproduct of the choice to focus on a given geographical region in each chapter: sometimes the narrative must refer to a culture, state, religion, etc., from outside of a given chapter’s region without being able to explain it adequately. That is especially noticeable in those chapters that cover a vast time frame in a single chapter (e.g. India, East Asia, the Americas, Africa). For instance, the chapter on India refers to Islam but does not explain its context, simply because the chapter on Islam is later in the book.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

The authorial approach is consistent throughout, with each chapter including a background discussion, issues with sources, geography, a chronological narrative, and then a summary to wrap up.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The book is very well-structured, with clear headings, subheadings, and sections. It would be very easy to adapt to an online class, and it would be equally easy to select specific sections to assign to students.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

As noted under clarity, above, several of the chapters cover a given world region’s entire history to 1500 CE. The intersections between chapters can suffer as a result, since it is impossible to explain a reference to an “outside” influence adequately while remaining focused on a given chapter’s primary subject. That is rarely a major issue, however, although it might throw some students off a bit.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

The only possible issue with the interface is that the book is only available as a single PDF. There are no captions for the images as a result, which is an accessibility issue. It would also be fairly labor-intensive to copy sections of the book into a different document, although that might be easier using a full-featured PDF editor.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

I did not detect a single grammatical error, and the prose is clear and readable throughout.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 4

Given that the world history paradigm was largely inspired by a desire to break from Eurocentric narratives, the strangest aspect of the book is the fact that it is “Europe heavy” in its coverage. Persia is an afterthought, but Greece gets an entire chapter, for instance. In fact, four out of the twelve chapters are on European subjects, while even China only gets a single chapter! As a reader, it is a bit odd to encounter so much on the nuances of life and politics in a few Greek poleis while both American continents get only a single chapter overview. One specific issue unrelated to the book’s coverage of Europe: the term “Aryan” begs for further discussion in the chapter on India. Aryan was indeed the self-designation used by the Indo-Iranian peoples who migrated into India and Persia during the Bronze Age. Because of the grotesque abuse of the term by racist pseudo-scholars starting in the nineteenth century, however, many (most?) contemporary Americans connote the word with white supremacists, not least because “Aryan” identity was so central to the Nazis during the Third Reich. The book really should explain that “Aryan” was never a racial identity; at most it could be considered a linguistic-ethnic designation for peoples who migrated to India and Persia at a certain point in ancient history. Those issues aside, it should be clear that the authors do go out of their way to dismantle problematic assumptions and ideas related to the history covered in the book. For example, while it’s on the lengthy side, the introduction to African history does a great job of explaining to American readers some of the key issues and false assumptions that have distorted the Western understanding of African history and identity for far too long.

This is an excellent book. It is based on recent scholarship, it is well written, it manages to cover a vast range of subjects with relative clarity, and it would be extremely useful in any lower-division world history survey. From my perspective it would be best used as a source of material to be copied and pasted into separate documents for students, which in turn would render some of the minor issues noted above (e.g. the book’s density, the under-explained outside references) irrelevant.

It should also be noted that the book includes both helpful bibliographies of secondary sources and lists of primary sources at the end of each chapter.

Overall, the book is easily the equal of many commercial world history textbooks, and the authors deserve a great deal of credit for their effort.

Opinión de Corinne Kannenberg, Affiliate Faculty, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 5/1/20

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

I would have liked to see more in-depth discussion of East Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

It seems to be accurate and error-free.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

It seems relevant and/or easy to update.

Claridad clasificación: 3

My students complain about this text often. It is written in a very dry prose that my college students don't find engaging or easy to read.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

The text is consistent.

Modularidad clasificación: 4

I often assign multiple sections from various chapters and this is made easier by the multiple headings and subheadings within each chapter.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

Sometimes I am confused by the organizations of some of the chapters, which seem to be organized by both geography and chronology (for example, the chapters on Europe and Byzantium jump between the two in a way that is not intuitive).

Interfaz clasificación: 5

The PDF format makes the interface quite easy to navigate.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

There are no grammatical errors that I've noticed.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 4

Aside from being more Eurocentric than I expected, I do not find it otherwise insensitive or offensive.

I use this text in a course on the global Middle Ages since no such stand-alone textbook exists (yet). I love being able to offer my students an OER that is free for them to use. While this textbook is functional, it is not perfect, and I find that it works best as a supplementary text when used along side multiple primary source readings, scholarly articles, etc. Simply put, I find that its coverage of world cultures, particularly those of East Asia, Africa, and the Americas are surprisingly lacking, and these are the areas that I hoped to find covered more extensively. Overall, I find that it is certainly worth using this text so that my students can save money on books, but I wish that it had more extensive coverage of ancient and medieval WORLD civilizations and cultures to the extent that would be expected in an introductory-level college history course.

Opinión de Nadia Mohamed, Professor, Global Studie, Minnesota State University System on 3/7/20, updated 2/23/26

Exhaustividad clasificación: 5 ver menos

World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500
World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 offers a comprehensive introduction to the history of humankind from prehistory to 1500. This book has 12 Chapters and is written for an OER . it has a very good amount of maps, images, and charts. I did not find the problem with the book to be Eurocentric. The chapters on India and China are robust. However, it is more of a survey of “major Civilizations” vs. a true World History. Also missing info about Islam and Muslim scholars, Oceania/Pacific Islands which unfortunately is left out of most World History texts. I may adopt this book but I will have to supplement some areas with other readings which may be okay since there are only 12 chapters and I usually have time to cover 14 chapters in a semester. As far as I can add test banks or instructor resources either so that will be another consideration to adoption but the authors of this text should be commended for producing such a strong work.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 3

Missing some information about Islam and on places such as SE Asia, but the basic information is generally correct.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 3

The book is not up to date in terms of current world history scholarship, as noted above. you can easily find resources to updated

Claridad clasificación: 4

This book is relatively easy to read.

Consistencia clasificación: 3

Islamic civilization is not covered well,as Western civilization is covered in much more detail with much sharper periodization and a much greater emphasis on events than other civilizations.

Modularidad clasificación: 3

The book could be divided into two books as the chapters could be used independently to supplement other material.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

I know it is always a challenge when writing a World History text. One problem that it deals with multiple civilizations encounter with Islam before introducing Islam itself. The books organization works fine.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

No significant navigation problems were noted, Graphics are basic but accurate and clear.If making the links to primary sources open automatically into a separate tab to make ease of movement between the sources could take the frustration off from students and assigned to read modules rather than chapters.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

No grammatical problems that I could find.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

No cultural insensitivity or offensive content was noted.

My school is making a big push in the direction of OER resources and reducing student costs. this will contribute to the project for Arab history and cultures as a full OER textbook.

Opinión de Rick Warner, Associate Professor, Wabash College on 8/14/19

Exhaustividad clasificación: 3 ver menos

The book approaches the subject of world history along the "regional tour" model, which is quite old fashioned for our day. Recent texts are more thematic and comparative in nature. The strong suit is that the more frequently mentioned topics in the first part of the world survey are covered well in terms of content (early humans, world religions, agriculture, etc.). Using this book in place of no book at all would be appropriate, but it would be a true shame not to expose students to better textbooks by Bentley, Strayer, Smith, Tignor, and others. I don't want to be snooty but I have evaluated many textbooks on the market due to my role in the World History Association and other organizations. This is better than nothing but not nearly as good as alternatives that can be purchased.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 4

Despite missing information on places such as SE Asia and Oceania, the basic information is generally correct.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 2

The book is not up to date in terms of current world history scholarship, as noted above.

Claridad clasificación: 4

It is relatively easy to read, though perhaps not as much as the Strayer text.

Consistencia clasificación: 4

Seems straight forward, if not overly imaginative.

Modularidad clasificación: 4

The book would teach well but the instructor should supplement with missing content areas and theoretical/historiographical questions.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

As noted the book follows a "regional tour" model that has generally been discarded in world historiography, but from within that framework it is logical. In other words, it would be appropriate maybe 20 years ago.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

Graphics are basic but accurate and clear.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

No issues here.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 4

I would not say that it is insensitive, though there is a slight tendency toward western civilization in many places.

If students cannot afford a textbook, a good teacher can make this work. If moving to this platform means leaving behind good scholarship, I find that very depressing. I apologize if I appear offensive in my remarks, but I have been very involved in world history for over 20 years, both in teaching and at a national level. I felt like I should speak my mind.

Opinión de Justin Vance, Adjunct Faculty, Boise State University on 1/11/19

Exhaustividad clasificación: 3 ver menos

Leaves out Southeast Asia which is unusual for a World History textbook. Also leaves out Oceania/Pacific Islands which unfortunately is common of World History texts.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

I found no errors even in the areas that I know the content well from my own research.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

Good.

Claridad clasificación: 5

The book is extremely well written.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

The book author's seem to have worked together as one.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The chapters could be used independently to supplement other material.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 5

The books organization works fine which is always a challenge when writing a World History text.

Interfaz clasificación: 5

Only available as PDF which is the best way if can only be available one way in my opinion.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

The book is very well edited I noticed no errors.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

The authors seem to have done well in this area.

This book is extremely well written for an OER and seems based on the latest scholarship. The maps, images, and charts included are VERY effective. The organization is fine and unlike some of the other reviews I did not find the problem with the book to be Eurocentric. The chapters on India and China are robust. However, it is more of a survey of “major Civilizations” vs. a true World History. That may be okay since it is impossible to cover every society in World History but notably missing is Southeast Asia which made major contributions to World History (Angkor Wat for one) and is one of the most populated areas on earth. Also missing is Oceania/Pacific Islands which unfortunately is left out of most World History texts. I may adopt this book but I will have to supplement these two areas with other readings which may be okay since there are only 12 chapters and I usually have time to cover 14 chapters in a semester. As far as I can tell there are no test banks or instructor resources either so that will be another consideration to adoption but the authors of this text should be commended for producing such a strong work.

Opinión de Suresh Sethuraman, Adjunct Professor, University of Mary Washington on 5/21/18

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

The book covers a very wide canvas in terms of time and space (World History upto 1500) , yet, it is fairly comprehensive and incorporates all the major regions, events and socio-cultural developments. The book does not have an Index or Glossary. But this is somewhat compensated by a List of Key Terms for every Chapter provided in the first few pages of each Chapter and a summary of the contents of each Chapter towards the end of the Chapter.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 4

The book provides an accurate account of World History. I did not find any factual error. Of course, for certain periods/aspects of World History, there are controversies regarding the dates of events and identification/location of places. In most instances, the authors have discussed such controversies in simple terms and in the process, provided the various theories/divergent opinions pertaining to a particular event/topic. For example, the controversies regarding the administration, system of writing and the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization are discussed in pages 72-73.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

The year of publication of the book is not stated. The book incorporates the recent researches and developments in the subject. Even works published in 2013 and later have been cited. Each Chapter also lists the Website Links to the Primary sources pertaining to the contents of that Chapter. A book of this nature, dealing with World History--a subject taught in several Universities and colleges--will not easily become obsolete or outdated. The book is written/formatted in such a way that any new researches/studies/discoveries can be easily incorporated within any of the Chapters and in the Bibliographies provided for each Chapter.

Claridad clasificación: 4

Despite being a multi-author work dealing with different regions and cultural periods, the book ranks high in terms of clarity. The editors of the volume have ensured that all the chapters are of the same style of writing and also share the same format and sequence in which the various facts are presented. Non-English/technical terms, often unavoidable especially in the Chapters dealing with Asia, are kept to the minimum and whenever such a term is used, its meaning is clearly explained in the text. Major historical terms, personal names, dynastic names and place names have been presented in bold font that further enhances the easy readability and the clarity of the text.

Consistencia clasificación: 4

As indicated earlier, despite being a fairly large multi-author work, the book is remarkable for the uniformity in style and presentation format followed in all the chapters. Each chapter leads to the other and there is consistency in terms of terminology and overall presentation.

Modularidad clasificación: 4

Each chapter is divided into several sections, the number of such sections range from 9 to 31 per chapter. Most of the sections are further divided into smaller sub-sections with side-headings. Each section/sub-section reads like a self-contained independent unit and thus can, without any major modifications, be assigned for student exercises/other classroom requirements and can also, if need be, mixed/realigned with other sub-sections for classroom requirements. The entire book has been carefully structured for classroom purposes.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

Despite the challenge of having to present World History from the prehistoric times down to the 15th century within the confines of a classroom textbook, the authors have succeeded in presenting the text in a logical, clear and classroom-friendly fashion. The first chapter is, not surprisingly, devoted to Prehistory in various parts of the world. Each of the subsequent chapters deal with a particular region during a specific historical time-period. Due to the complex nature of the subject and the profusion of source materials for certain regions/historical periods, certain regions and historical time-periods have been given greater coverage than others. This is unavoidable in a history textbook of this nature.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

As indicated earlier, the book is well-structured and well-organized and hence, not difficult to read, comprehend, consult and use in the classroom. Many pictures/maps have been sourced from the Internet or directly from the authors/other publications, with due permission. None of the images/maps are blurred or unintelligible.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 4

I have not traced a single grammatical/other types of language-related errors in the book. It is well-edited and well-presented.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

Due to the very nature of the subject-matter (World History), the book deals with multiple cultures, races and ethnic groups. But no part of the book displays cultural insensitivity or contains any offensive/objectionable references about/against any group.

Being a book on World History from the Prehistoric times down to around the 15th century, this book will be of immense use for the students and teachers in the disciplines of History, World History, Ancient/Pre-Modern/Pre-Colonial History and Medieval History. Simultaneously, the book will also be useful and helpful to students and faculty in other interrelated disciplines including Archaeology, Prehistory, Art History, Classics, African Studies, Chinese Studies and Asian/South Asian Studies. The book presents a fairly comprehensive, cogent and integrated account of World History, methodically and neatly sub-dividing the subject region-wise and period-wise.
The book consists of 12 chapters. The first Chapter deals with Prehistory, clearly outlining the theories regarding the origin of the earliest human habitations in different parts of the world. In course of time, human beings began to live in larger, permanent settlements (community living or settled life) and began to rely on agriculture instead of hunting for their food requirements.
The next Chapter focusses on the Early Middle Eastern and North East African Civilizations. These include the historically famous Mesopotamian and Egyptian Civilizations that flourished on the banks of major rivers. Urbanization, social stratification, labor specialization, trade and a well-developed system of writing (language and script) are among the salient features of these civilizations.
Chapter-3 focusses on Ancient and Early Medieval South Asia/India. The Chapter commences with a detailed overview of the Harappan or Indus-Valley Civilization that was almost cotemporary to the Mesopotamian and Egyptian Civilizations. The later part of this Chapter deals with the major dynasties of ancient South Asia. These include the Mauryans, the Kushans and the Guptas. Chapter-4 deals with China and East Asia (including Korea and Japan) from the Neolithic times down to the period of the Ming Dynasty that flourished from around 1368 to 1644 C.E.
Chapter-5 traces the history of the Greek World from the Bronze Age to the time of the conquest of Greece by the Romans in the first century B.C.E. The next Chapter (Chapter-6) presents the history of the Roman Civilization from 753 B.C.E to 500 C.E. while Chapter-7 narrates the history of Western Europe and Byzantium (500 -1000 C.E.). These three chapters (5, 6, 7) will be most useful to students and teachers of Classical Studies.
Chapter-8 narrates the rise of the religion of Islam and the history of the Middle East in the Middle Ages. The next Chapter traces the complex history of many regions of Africa during the ancient and medieval periods. Chapter-10 deals with the history of North and South America from the earliest times to around the 14th century. Chapter-11 focusses on the history of Central Asia upto the medieval times. The final Chapter, which is also the longest, deals with Western Europe and Byzantium (1000-1500 C.E.)
Each of the chapters do not merely confine themselves to political/dynastic and administrative histories but include trade and economy, socio-cultural conditions, religion and philosophy, architecture, visual and performing arts, literature and learning. But the space devoted to the non-political and non-administrative aspects vary from chapter to chapter.
Each chapter commences with the Dates or Chronology of the major political/dynastic periods, rulers and events described in the chapter. This is followed by a brief Introduction to the contents of the chapter, a set of questions to guide further reading and a list of key terms used in the chapter. Each chapter concludes with a good Summary or Concluding Section followed by a Bibliography including web-links to primary sources. All the chapters are supported by excellent color photographs and maps.
The book is an ideal textbook as well as a reference tool.

Opinión de William Burns, Adjunct, University of Mary Washington on 5/21/18

Exhaustividad clasificación: 2 ver menos

As a world history textbook, this book is ludicrously Eurocentric and frankly unacceptable. Chapter 2, 5, 6, 7 and 12 are devoted to Mediterranean/European civilization while China, India and the Islamic world get one chapter apiece. (The western chapters are also longer on the average.) The Persian Empire, Achmaenid, Parthian and Sassanian seems to have completely fallen into the cracks as the Achmaenid Empire appears only as an adversary for the Greeks, which means Zoroastrianism doesn't get attention either. (Phoenecians not around much either.) This is simply not in line with how world history is taught these days, although it may suit the "West and the World" model of western civilization teaching.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

I saw no major errors. There are some exaggerations—"all Greeks" did not cooperate against the Persian empire. (p. 172), but you correct that later.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 1

The work's pronounced Eurocentrism makes it instantly irrelevant, and it will only grow more so with the passage of time.

Claridad clasificación: 5

The book is well-written, not pitched as a level above that of college students. I like the way that it acknowledges scholarly controversy and the weaknesses of evidence for some periods, such as early Israel. (Unfortunately, this is not the case for the discussion of the origins of Islam, the subject of much recent scholarly controversy.)

Consistencia clasificación: 3

Western civilization is covered in much more detail with much sharper periodization and a much greater emphasis on events than other civilizations.

Modularidad clasificación: 4

The book is modular, but this is not always an advantage. A good world history textbook needs to make comparisons between cultures and discuss links between them. Poor awareness of the importance of cultural encounters is a weakness of the text—the Greek encounter with Judaism in the Hellenistic period, absolutely central to the development of Christianity and the Western tradition, occupies only a short paragraph on the Maccabean wars.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

The book flows nicely, with strong organization. One problem that it deals with multiple civilizations encounter with Islam before introducing Islam itself.

Interfaz clasificación: 5

No problems.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

Did not see any grammatical errors.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 3

The book's consistent philosophy that western developments are more important may be considered culturally offensive by some. In terms of specifically offensive statements I didn’t see any, but as a middle-aged white guy I'm not the most qualified to judge. (Kind of odd that on page 334 the text tells students not to use the terms "bushmen" and "pygmies" but doesn't tell them what terms to use instead.) Sometimes the text goes over the top in correcting for the students (assumed) prejudices, as in the statement on page 370 that "our task is to admire" Pre-Columbian history. It isn't—our task is to understand.

I would never consider this book for a world history course due to its extreme, old-fashioned Eurocentrism. Liked the use of Wikimedia Commons, though.

Opinión de Frederic Krome, Professor of History, University of Cincinnati Clermont College on 3/27/18

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

The book does a nice job of covering the broad meta-themes of World History--for example the Agricultural Revolution, the Origins and spread of world religions such as Christianity and Islam. As with any textbook you can have quibbles about whether some topics, such as Oceania, should receive more coverage. I would personally like a bit more detail on the impact of climate change and environmental history on world civilizations.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 4

I did not find much to quibble about in the text, and most comments would be rather minor. For example in the section on the rise of Islam, (pp. 299-304) the authors make a comment about Muhammad reciting the Quran to convert followers. Since some scholars argue the Quran was redacted a generation after Muhammad I would clarify such material with more detail.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 3

The only area in which I was not sure of the text being based on the most recent research was in the sections on Judaism and Christianity. In the Christianity section they point to the pioneering world of Peter Brown on Late Antiquity and St. Augustine. A great deal of work has been done on early Christianity, by Paula Frederickson, From Jesus to the Christ, which does not appear to have been consulted. Martin Goodman's Work, Rome and Jerusalem would also round out the picture.
Having said that, however, the links to primary sources at the end of each chapter enable the instructor to adapt the material to changing interpretations.

Claridad clasificación: 5

The text is well written and thankfully eschews the use of jargon. No complaints here.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

The structure of the book--specifically the glossary and study questions at the beginning of each chapter--are one of the books strength and are well constructed. No chapter seems to have been given predominance over another.

Modularidad clasificación: 4

My university operates on a 14 week semester, and World History I covers material to circa 1500, so the structure of the text fits well with our Learning Outcomes.
I personally like the use of sub-headings as it helps students think about issues, such as the transition from Roman Republic to early Empire, the Era of Good Emperors, and the Origins and Spread of Christianity.
The organization is especially useful in chapters, 2, 9, and 10, where in order to cover such diverse geographic regions (and the various civilizations that developed) it is necessary to jump quickly from region to region. As with any subject it can sometimes appear as "one damn thing after another," however, this is a minor criticism.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 3

The only major issue I would point to is that the first 8 chapters focus on Eurasia to the cusp of the age of exploration. The reader.student is not introduced to developments in Africa or the Americas until chapter 9 and 10. While these subjects can be treated in isolation from the broader chronology of the rest of the world, living as they did in actual isolation for thousands of years, it could make the student's head spin as they are then introduced to a thousand years of African history in one chapter.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

I had no difficulty in utilizing the text, or the links. My only suggestion is to make the links to primary sources open automatically into a separate tab to make ease of movement between the sources and the text easier. (My grandson had to point out to me I could open links in a separate tab.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

No grammatical annoyances that I could find. Copy editing was well done.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

It is often difficult to deal with sensitive subjects, such as religion, without either offending people or watering the material down to blandness. The authors did a nice job of being balanced and sensitive to various belief systems.

No

Opinión de Martin Johnson, Associate Professor of History, Miami University (Ohio) on 2/1/18

Exhaustividad clasificación: 3 ver menos

Overall, this text provides a brief but solid account that can be a useful foundation for a world history course. Its strengths and weaknesses are similar to any text in world history, in which choices as to structure, coverage, and emphasis are inevitable and inevitably debatable. The one area this text is most lacking in comparison to other texts is that it lacks a good deal of the supplementary materials for faculty, such as text banks, slides, and lecture notes. The pdf version of the text does provide very useful live links to bibliographies and copies of links to primary source, which does help.

Comparing this text to others suggests that it is a more basic, simplified approach that tends to focus on the largest and most enduring states and cultures. Given that World History is complex and can be confusing, this approach can be a significant advantage for providing students with a clear and easily followed structure. Moreover, the brevity of the text allows teachers to add materials, readings, primary sources, and activities without danger of over-burdening students. Of course, this approach also means that some regions, states, or cultures are either wholly neglected or only mentioned in passing, and probably every teacher will find at least a few such instances that they will want to rectify by adding material---but this is generally the case with any world history.

Previous reviews of this text have mentioned uneven coverage by both time and region. The table below listing chapters and page numbers supports this conclusion as regards a “western civilization” bias. Four of the twelve chapters cover Greece, Rome, and European history, accounting for about a third of the pages of the book. This is a serious imbalance, but instructors can of course compensate by adding readings, videos, and activities.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

I found no inaccuracies.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

This text has a date of 2016; the great majority of the citations to readings are from the last 15 years, so I would rate this as highly up-to-date and relevant. The longevity is also high, given its classic approach to most issues and topics---highly individual approaches can be ephemeral.

Claridad clasificación: 5

Clearly written and organized. For more, see point 1 above.

chapter Pages Author
1 Prehistory 20 Berger
2 Early Civs 40 Miller
3 India 50 Israel
4 East Asia 60 Israel
5 Greece 45 Williams
6 Rome 45 Williams
7 Europe to 1500 30 Reeves
8 Islam to 1400 40 Parkinson
9 Africa 32 Miller
10 Americas 30 Berger
11 central Asia 28 Parkinson
12 Europe to 1500 50 Reeves
Total pages 480

Consistencia clasificación: 5

One strength is the structural consistency and predictability across chapters. Each chapter includes in same order:
---Chronology: Mostly 8 to 15 key dates relating to the topic of the chapter. The Central Asia chronology has only 5 terms, while the Europe to 1500 chronology is over 2 pages long. This is a sign of inadequate coordination and of the uneven coverage / treatment noted by several reviewers.
---Introduction to the major developments in the chapter
---Questions: Usually 4 to 12 questions that tend to focus on the particular approach of the text. For example, “how did the Inca use local resources to build their empire?” has a clear answer in the text. Other questions are more general, for example, “explain the main ideas of Confucianism,” which can be answered from this or any other good source. These questions could be used as reading checks or as the basis for discussions or class essays.
---Key terms: lists of 20 to 40 names, terms, events, or places that are
---6 to 12 sections presenting historical content, chronologically within chapters
---Summary/conclusion
---Links to further reading
---Links to primary sources

Modularidad clasificación: 5

With 12 chapters and numerous divisions within chapters, this text is highly modular. The uniformity of organization within chapters also is a plus in this regard, see "consistency," above.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

The organization of chapters by major regions presents an image of world history as somewhat fragmented or disconnected. Within chapters there are sections dealing with trade and exchange, but overall there is little discussion of relationships among the major regional states and cultures, nor are cross-cultural patterns much in evidence. Similarly, we gain a strong sense of evolutions over time within cultures, but on a world / global scale these transformations are relatively unconnected. Instructors can fill the need for pointing out patterns and larger developments, of course, and might want to make that a focus of lectures and activities in order to balance the episodic vision of particular regional changes.

Instructors will probably also want to provide a good deal of “big picture” guidance, because the text lacks a general introduction. Teachers may want to especially emphasize connections and bridges between chapters. The conclusion of one chapter and the introduction to the next generally display no continuities. Essentially, these chapters are distinct and stand alone. Nor is there an overall vision presented of themes, patterns, organizing principles, or connections across regions and time periods. While some texts provide orientation to using sources, reading critically, understanding maps, etc, there is none here. There is no printed index. While the PDF version is searchable, a good index can alert students to connections in a way that word searches cannot.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

Finally, it would be helpful for the authors or for instructors to divide the large pdf download into more manageable units or chapters. At present, the entire book, about 75 megs, needs to be downloaded, and this might be troublesome for the less digitally privileged. I plan to adopt this text for my courses and thank authors and organizers of this initiative for their service to students and education more generally.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

No major issues noted.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 4

A somewhat "western-centric" approach (see point 1, above), but no obviously offensive content.

Illustrations are helpful but tend to be more decorative than essential. They generally come from standard and accessible websites such as wikipedia. In the printed version, maps and illustrations sometimes do not reproduce clearly due to size / resolution, but the pdf versions are clear and bright.

I plan to adopt this text for my World to 1500 course.

Opinión de J.M. Bates, Assistant Professor , Winona State University on 2/1/18

Exhaustividad clasificación: 3 ver menos

This is reasonably comprehensive in covering ideas of the subject. However, as it stands, the book provides an uneven coverage of the materials associated with World History. Europe and the Middle East is given centrality in this book with extensive coverage of the Nations of Israel, the Roman Empire, the Byzantines and later Western Europe. Almost half the text is related to these areas and they frequently show up in other sections. As a result, the discussion of those areas is very comprehensive. However, the history of East Asia and the Americas is squished into a much smaller sections – While we learn about the goods traded in French markets, North America as a whole has five pages! The result is that those areas will require significant additional coverage from instructors.

The text does an excellent job in terms of balancing cultural, social and political history! I found that aspect particularly enjoyable. The authors also put a considerably emphasis on exploring the experiences of both men and women. Although, the message that women’s roles in society were restricted seems to repeated without clear terms of the differences between different societies. Moreover, when important individuals highlighted in the text are almost exclusively men.

The text also does a great job of introducing students to the skills associated with history. The authors repeated point out the texts that historians use to garner information about the past. They also point out when historians are still working with hypothesis or when there is considerable debate regarding a topic.

The book has a detailed table of content, but lacks an index or glossary. The lack of glossary might be particularly frustrating for students as some of the chapters are particularly long and include a laundry list of key terms that may be new to students.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 4

For the most part the text has no explicit bias and is relatively error free. (Although there are some pointed confusions in the conflation of the Mexica and the“Aztecs” I hope someone soon fixes this as there is no little information provided here, it seems it should not be too hard to include a more up to date understanding.

Yet, the uneven coverage does present something of a bias. In putting the large emphasis on European, Mediterranean and Israeli the book shows a bias in who is important in World History. Cutting those sections to give more attention to the Americas Africa and East Asia would be important in ridding the text and our students’ visions of who- or where - is important in our history and our contemporary world.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

In those areas where the text provides extensive coverage, it is up to date. Necessary updates – as long as they stay within this geographic framework – will be easy to incorporate.

Claridad clasificación: 4

Overall, the writing is clear and engaging. There are two areas where this falls short. First, at times the text jumps around in terms of referencing later chapters in early chapters. – For example the prophet Muhammad is referenced in chapter three but not fully explained until chapters later. This becomes particularly challenging since there is not a glossary or an index where students could quickly look this up. Also, the authors sometimes drop in “big names” that make sense to professional historians, but mean very little to our students. Faculty would know “Hobbes and Marx,” for example, but throwing them into the middle of a paragraph without explanation would frustrate and confuse students.

That said, I really appreciated the ways that the authors take the time to clarify and discuss the multiple meanings of particularly problematic or confusing terms ie discussion of the term “civilization.”

Moreover, by providing framing questions at the beginning of each chapter as well as a brief summary at the end of each chapter, the authors highlight the important take away for each chapter.

Consistencia clasificación: 4

The positives and negatives in terms of consistency mirror those through the rest of the categories. On one hand, through most chapters, the authors do a wonderful job of creating parallel structures that discuss geography, political development, social developments, cultural practices, gender norms and those sources that provided a good deal of information about the materials. I really enjoyed this structure in the majority of chapters. Yet, in other areas where the authors give less attention – most notably The Americas, this consistency falls apart. There is no discussion of geography, and the section on how people arrived in the Americas seems particularly jumbled.

Modularidad clasificación: 4

Text is divided into reasonable chapters with subheadings. It is not overly referential. Each chapter could be presented at different times during the course as they each stand alone without too much overlapping.

Within the chapters, however the modularity breaks down. In terms of revisions, I think breaking down the list of key terms, central questions and primary sources to match up with the subheadings – rather than the chapter introduction- would greatly improve the modularity of this text. By the time students have gotten through 60 pages of text, do they remember the “guiding questions” at the beginning?

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

Within each chapter, I found the structure and flow excellent. My only recommendation for improvement in terms of structure mirrors my comments in terms of modularity. Breaking up key terms and guiding questions would help organization and structure.

In terms of the auxiliary materials included in each chapter, the flow might be improved by including primary sources before additional readings. It stands to reason that instructors would be using and assigning the primary sources for discussion far more frequently than they would talk through the additional materials.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

I found no problems with the interface. My only concern is about the primary sources being links rather than in the text themselves. It seems that some students will use their textbooks while they are “off line.” It would be nice to have these embedded in the text itself.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

The text is free from grammatical errors.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 3

Within each chapter, the text is not culturally insensitive. Yet, the structure of the book and attention given to different geographic regions can be culturally insensitive. In our increasingly global world, we cannot keep teaching “world history” as a “Europe and the rest” framework. I would have really liked to see a textbook that gives less attention to the history of Europe and Israel and provides far more attention to East Asia and the Americas.

No

Opinión de Kara Barr, Instructor, Bowling Green State University on 2/1/18

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

This text covers an impressive amount of ground in relatively short chapters, something which is always a struggle in any survey text of global history. Some events and geographies garner more coverage and attention than others, which is understandable, but the criteria by which the authors determined the amount of coverage is a bit unclear. For instance, the Crisis of the Third Century is covered extensively, but the end of the Roman Empire—an equally important topic—gets only a brief mention in the context of Augustine’s City of God. An introduction to the text which introduced some overarching themes could have provided some rationale for these decisions and helped pull everything together.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

No errors in accuracy or strong biases were noted

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 4

The straightforward approach to the material means that it is unlikely to become obsolete in the near future. It is also structured in such a way that updates would be relatively easy to make, if necessary. However, the reluctance of the authors to make any contact with major historiographical debates and updates is a noticeable gap, and makes the text feel less relevant than it otherwise might.

Claridad clasificación: 5

The writing in this text is clear, if not exactly inviting or entertaining. At no time did the authors employ historical jargon or terminology without context and a clear definition.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

This text is remarkably consistent in structure given the breadth of subjects it covers and the number of authors involved. As noted above, some cultures, states, and societies seem to receive more in-depth coverage than others, but that is all but unavoidable in a text of this scope and could be easily remedied in the classroom by a capable instructor.

Modularidad clasificación: 4

The small subunits for each topic—each of which is helpfully listed in the table of contents-- should make it fairly easy for instructors to assign specific modules to suit their course structure. An inability to easily navigate between these subunits or between the text and the table of contents might hinder this quite a bit, however.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 3

While the writing of this text is clear and to the point, the organization of topics and events could be quite difficult to follow at times. For instance, in the chapter “Western Europe and Byzantium, 500-1000 CE”, the flow of the discussion of Byzantium is broken up by a somewhat distracting detour to the British Isles, which makes sense in terms of chronological coverage but tampers with the narrative quite a bit. This would be easily remedied by assigning modules rather than chapters, but even between paragraphs the content can vary quite a bit without clear transitions between topics. For instance when a two paragraph discussion of the Byzantine military reorganization abruptly halts and turns to a discussion of religious crises in the Empire, without any transition between the two.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

No significant navigation problems were noted, other than the inability to easily return to the table of contents other than by scrolling, which could prove frustrating for students assigned to read modules rather than chapters.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

Few grammatical errors were noted.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

No cultural insensitivity or offensive content was noted.

Opinión de Robert Moore, Adjunct, Chemeketa Community College on 6/20/17

Exhaustividad clasificación: 3 ver menos

Global history is a very difficult topic to tackle in a textbook without becoming far too long to be useful to most students or too brief to provide any narrative at all. This book provides adequate coverage. Some chapters provide more depth than others. Some extremely significant events have little coverage in the text or are split oddly across chapters; the Crusades appear in very briefly in Chapter 8 and in some more depth in Chapter 12, for example. Reading the two sections side by side gives the reader a reasonable level of comprehension, but it may not be intuitive. Coverage on Asia is also somewhat lacking in comparison to events in Europe.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

There were no obvious errors and, aside from a tendency to focus on European events, the text does not display any strong biases.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

It is impossible to predict when we will uncover evidence that reveals new data on ancient events. It seems like our timeline for early villages changes every year as new archaeology comes in. That said, most of the content of this book is unlikely to change significantly and those updates should be easy to implement, thanks to the clear section divisions within each chapter.

Claridad clasificación: 4

I found the text more readable than most commercially available textbooks. I would have liked to see a glossary or short definitions included in the Key Terms section (or a section reference directing the reader to the location of that key term), though that's much less of an issue in a electronic text.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

The framework throughout the text is consistent and very helpful in locating the information you want to find.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The text is broken down into small sections that can easily be referenced and assigned individually or in various combinations.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

Overall, I found the organization very helpful. Personally, I dislike organizing long sequences of events by geography, rather than emphasizing the connectivity of events. To return to my example of the Crusades from earlier: Chapter 8 focuses on Islam and the role Saladin played in the Crusades, while Chapter 12 focuses on the European motivations for the Crusades. That organization seems less helpful to me than a single chapter about the Crusades that incorporates both perspectives. If I were using this text in my class, I would probably cut the text up into a more chronologically consistent narrative.

Interfaz clasificación: 5

I encountered no noticeable issues with the interface.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

The text was well-written; I noticed no errors in grammar.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

I did not find any of the text culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. Diversity is at the core of this textbook, as it attempts to address the varied experiences of ancient cultures.

Opinión de Katie Kirakosian, Assistant Professor, Northern Virginia Community College on 6/20/17

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

Overall, the book covers much of the expected content for a course focused on world history. In some areas, like chapter 1 I was looking for a decontextualization of the concept of "prehistory" versus "history", as this is considered a very loaded term in some contemporary communities and circles. Also, in Chapter 10, there were many culture areas that were not even introduced here. Even if briefly, I believe it was necessary to introduce students to the culture areas and give an overview of the diversity of Native groups within each. To cover all of North American in roughly 4 pages is problematic and expansion is necessary here.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 4

While I would not say the book had inaccuracies per se, given the breadth of the book, some of the complexities were overlooked. For example, there was no discussion of "Pre-Clovis" when discussing the peopling of the New World. This section simplified what is a very real and ongoing debate within archaeology and beyond.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 4

While most of the references cited were post 2000, I had hoped to see more references from research from 2010 to the present, as some very important discoveries have been made in this time.

Claridad clasificación: 5

The book was a very clear and concise read, which was as free of jargon as possible. The definitions also provided the necessary context for the reader.

Consistencia clasificación: 4

The book was quite consistent throughout, as was evidenced through the same layout and structure between chapters and authors. I particularly liked the questions at the onset and the links to primary sources at the end. Some chapters were less robust then others, with some chapters ranging only 30 pages, while others were 50 pages in length. If not prefaced, this might impact students sense of the richness of some regions and time periods over others.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

I believe this textbook could easily be modularized with little issue.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

The organization of the book made logical sense in most instances. I was unsure of the placement of Chapter 11 on Central Asia right after the Americas however.

Interfaz clasificación: 5

I experienced no interface issues and found t quite intuitive.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

I found few grammatical errors throughout.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

I did not find the textbook to be culturally insensitive.

Opinión de James Frusetta, Associate Professor, Hampden-Sydney College on 6/20/17

Exhaustividad clasificación: 3 ver menos

The book provides an overview of key regional empires across the world. Such an approach, however, inevitably favors larger states and societies at the expense of smaller ones — understandable, given the breadth of material, and something I find in most world history textbooks. The book’s weight on classical Greece and Rome (2 chapters out of 12) will serve most classes, but contributes to the fact that 4 out of 12 chapters focus on Europe — while sub-Saharan Africa, India and the Americas receive only a chapter each. More significant for many, I suspect, will be that the approach — focusing each chapter on a distinct region — means the textbook’s ability to draw connections across different regions is hampered. This criticisms noted, writing world history is difficult and the textbook will likely serve well for courses where specific content coverage is mandated by department or college policy.

An index isn’t provided, but text searches are easy in a digital file and students will likely plan to use those in place of an index in any case. A collected glossary is not provided, but key terms are noted at the start of each chapter.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

Material covered in the book is accurate and consistent; instructors should not be concerned at undue bias or error.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 4

Content coverage is broad enough that new findings or approaches will not render the text obsolete — and occasional changes for nuance can easily be incorporated. The lists of further reading are the areas most likely to need revisions, and this can be done easily (and likely should be for the links to online primary sources, given how quickly web content can shift). The one area of concern in terms of relevance would be to note the ongoing debate about how to frame this kind of class — whether to cover multiple regions of the world, or to emphasize events that span across regions. I note this not in idle critique, but to note that your position on this (or your department’s position) will impact the relevancy of the book.

Claridad clasificación: 5

The text is clearly and carefully aimed at an undergraduate audience; terms are not just carefully defined, but defined in such a way to make them accessible to students.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

The structure of the different chapters is broadly consistent: a chronology, introduction, guiding questions and key terms, followed by the text, then recommended secondary texts and primary documents. The length of these varies from chapter to chapter — Greece has a page of site and individual primary document links, while the last chapter links to two sites only. I found the history sections, however, were consistent in approach and wouldn't expect that students would be confused advancing through the text. Visual material was similarly consistent in terms of layout and quality.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The 12 chapters are largely self-contained, allowing an instructor to teach them in a different order — or to pick and choose which chapters to use — with the caveat that some are of course linear (e.g., the chapter on Rome logically builds on the chapter on Greece.) One could fairly easily use a single chapter, or several chapters, without using the remainder of the book.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

For those teaching world history as a discrete series of introductions to regions of the world, the organization of the book will suit well. Each chapter is effectively a self-contained unit, with a specific story developed over the course of the chapter. This is perhaps stronger in chapters that treat shorter historical moments (e.g., the Ancient Greek world) rather than the wider survey chapters (e.g., Africa to 1500). This is a good text for asking students to learn about unfamiliar regions and histories; however, for those teaching world history/global history as in terms of comparisons, connections or (world) change, the organization and flow of the text is problematic.

Interfaz clasificación: 5

I found the .pdf easy to use, and quick to respond, both when reading within a browser, in Adobe Reader, and using other applications to read through it. The textbook looked excellent both within the browser and when read within applications. The only caveat would be loading time, which I found to be uneven and slower on some browsers — those using the text might wish to consider local hosting to distribute it to their students. The use of maps and images (drawing extensively on Wikimedia, but also including a fair number of high-quality originals) is impressive.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

The odd typographic error is present, but the proofing and writing is as good as what I see from most professional presses. The occasional awkward phrase is, in my eyes, made up for with simple unassuming prose for the most part — I believe students will find this to be more accessible than much of what I assign them.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 4

The book is careful to avoid obvious pitfalls in terms of cultural insensitivity, and is careful to approach different cultures carefully. However, the nature of the project — encompassing world cultures to 1500 — means inevitably that it is incomplete, and some cultures are left out. The approach here, which emphasizes key regional powers/cultures, is a logical way to structure the book (and a course) but can’t be universally inclusive by its very nature

The textbook should be relevant for many teaching the first half of the introductory world history survey to 1500. The particular modular approach may be tricky for others — I’ve variously been asked (at different institutions) to teach it to/from 1650, to 1300, and to 1500. For instructors looking for OER resources, the text is lucid, provides a relevant introduction and has an excellent look-and-feel. It will not suit all instructors, given its pedagogical approach (different chapters for different regions), but if you share that approach it will do quite well. Expanded primary document links in some sections would be useful.

Opinión de Pamela Crawley, History Instructor, Tidewater Community College on 6/20/17

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

For a survey course, the text masterfully delves into early African history and brilliantly reviews the Classical World, Early Islam and Europe. However, instructors may want to supplement the text with additional readings for topics concerning South America and Southeast Asia.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

The content is accurate and balanced, if unequally distributed.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 4

The text is up to date and I have no doubt that the creators will continue to update as necessary. I would prefer, however, to have an “open” option – such as a WORD document, that can be edited by instructors who choose to adopt this text.

Claridad clasificación: 4

The sections are similarly organized with a good mix of graphs, maps and illustrations. More, it is easy to digest and presents History as a topic of interest, rather than a dry list of figures. My larger concern is the lack of an index. No worries as a .pdf, but this becomes an issue for the student who chooses to print the text.

Consistencia clasificación: 4

It is clear that a chapter “skeleton” was used by each contributor. The result is a text that flows smoothly from one content area to the next. Students are clear in what they can expect from each chapter, in terms of questions, key terms and so on. Some chapters get better treatment with these extras than others.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

Each region is presented in a manner and layout common to any instructor of World History. I do like that they’ve narrowed in on subsections to allow for targeted reading.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 5

There are two schools of thought with survey texts: The People of X in Time Y or What’s Happening in Regards to A During Time B. There are merits to both methods. This text takes the former route, allowing the instructor/learner to skip from one area to the next, drawing connections on their own.

Interfaz clasificación: 4

I would think a web versions and a .docx/.rtf version to be in order. As for the .pdf, I am amazingly grateful for high and low res options. Great layout, typesetting and design.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

I have yet to read a book without error. Could this use another pass from an editor? Sure, but so can every other book - fiction or nonfiction – that I’ve ever purchased.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 4

I am pleased with the range of places and peoples touched on. I would have liked more on South America and Southeast Asia, but those can be supplemented by teachers, per their interest.

This book is great for those wanting to adopt a free textbook. I am, however, reluctant to label this true OER, as the text is only available as a PDF. Sure, there are programs available to jailbreak a PDF, but since the license allows remixing, the file should also be available as a .rtf, .doc. or .docx.

Opinión de Leigh Ann Craig, Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University on 2/8/17

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

The test provides relatively even, if brief, coverage of western and central Eurasia, and somewhat more brief coverage of east Asia and the Americas. There is no glossary, nor any index. In a PDF, the glossary would seem extraneous, but the lack of an index is somewhat confounding.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

I noticed no counterfactual information in my own areas of specialty; the text seems quite accurate throughout. In such cramped quarters, there's little room for bias to creep in, and the author seems quite dispassionate in any case.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 4

The content is all accurate, but here I do not feel entirely certain that the approaches reflect trends in world systems theory. it would be easy to add some note about the movement of ideas, technology, etc. thorugh regional systems (perhaps in the brief 'world context' segments,), but to really incorporate this larger field of view into the text would require a deep reorganization.

Claridad clasificación: 4

The author is careful to define terms throughout, and to indicate them in bold face. The prose skews toward some awkward usages and clause structures, but not toward overlong sentences or needlessly ornate vocabulary.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

The text is fully internally consistent in its organizational schema, foci, and incorporation of learning tools like maps, boldface terminology, etc.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The book is highly modular -- indeed, for my own part, a bit *too* modular, in that carryover between chapters and regions is limited. Subheadings are frequent and accurate, and while they could indeed be reorganized, to do so would not change the fundamental approaches or flavor of the text.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 4

The book is well-organized, but I would not say the flow -- in the sense of connecting one segment to the next -- is as strong as it might be. The goal of world history, from the world systems perspective, is to examine connection and movement, rather than division and insular locality. This text is somewhat bare of that perspective, and one fo the benefits of that perspective is that it helps the reader to explain why they might jump from western Europe to China in a single page-turn.

Interfaz clasificación: 5

The .pdf took quite a long time to open in a web browser even with an otherwise quick internet connection, and it took some time for me, an early tech adopter, to locate the pathways which would allow me to download it to my own machine. I do not know if in-browser reading would be a good interface to expect students to use, but if one were to download it and make it available through a platform like Blackboard, that would seem reasonable. No distortion of images or text was discernable; once downloaded, the document was quite attractive. It was hyperlinked from the table of contents to preclude the need to scroll though the entire document to find a given subsection.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 4

There are no grammar errors here. However, the usage is occasionally clumsy. The authors frequently place modifier phrases in awkward locations in sentences, use needless passives, or structure sentences without a strong subject up-front. I get the impression that the text could use a good editorial pass with an eye for enhancing the elegance of the prose.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

Given the topic, this is a text which is automatically culturally inclusive. Cultural content is handled here with reasonable sensitivity and with a kind of egalitarian eye for the complexities of human interaction.

While it does not do as much work as I would prefer, for a college-level text, in discussing world systems rather than discrete segments of the globe, the localized information here is well-presented and easy to find, making the text a very fine reference source for introductory level information.

Opinión de Chris Thomas, Associate Professor and Program Head, Reynolds Community College on 2/8/17

Exhaustividad clasificación: 4 ver menos

The text adequately covers all the materials that would be required in a survey World History course. While each chapter had a different author and thus in some areas more attention is given, overall the book provides the basic content and supplements it adequately with images, maps, and links to additional primary and secondary readings. It is lacking both an index and glossary, but the digital nature of the text can compensate for that in part.

Some chapters need to really rework the key terms. Establish a ceiling and a floor, and make sure that if it's on the list then it's essential for a survey course. The Prehistory chapter doesn't have "Agricultural Revolution" as a key term (which it really ought to), but has "homo erectus," "homo habilis," and "homo sapiens." Do freshmen need to know all the names of all the ancestors of modern humans, but not the event that began civilization?

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 4

The content is accurate and reflects a concerted effort to include recent scholarship. There are places where biases creep in, but such is the nature of such collaborative works that have to cover such vast amounts of detail, yet be written by scholars with their own research interests and specialties.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

There is a nice mix of recent publications (some only a year or two old) with older publications. Often the "Further Reading" sections include web links that can be a potential source of problems over time with dead and broken links, however they are frequently from organizations and institutions that plan to be around for a while. Additionally, web sources are sufficiently balanced with print sources. Best of all, because the book is primarily a digital text, updates can be published and made available immediately without older editions floating around.

Claridad clasificación: 4

Each chapter includes a list of key terms at the outset (though the number of key terms varies dramatically from chapter to chapter), and while these key terms do not appear in a glossary or index they are in bold in the text, creating a nice mix of help to the student, but not too much. The words are easily found, but the student must still read to find the definition. Overall the prose of the text is on par with survey texts currently available from big publishers and other OERs.

Consistencia clasificación: 3

In terms of framework each chapter follows a consistent model: chronology, introduction, questions for guiding students through the chapter, and key terms. There is a bit of inconsistency in length of these individual section for each chapter. The introduction to chapter 8 is about half page, while that of chapter . The timeline provided with chapter 12 (Renaissance) is almost three full pages, while chapter 11 (Central Asia) has only 5 entries. Chapter 2 has eighteen "Questions to Guide Your Reading" while chapter 7 has eight.

There are a few places where the key term has issues. Some chapters have a word in the key terms list that doesn't appear in the text, or doesn't appear the same as it did in the list.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The text was very well organized in this way. Each chapter is broken in sections, sub-sections, and sometimes even further than that. This will be tremendously helpful for faculty who wish to use the text in pieces rather than assign the book in its entirety. There are portions where 4-5 pages passes by without any kind of sectional break, but often this is due to large maps and images having been inserted into the text and thus stretching the section out to several pages. Overall the structure of the book was one of the first things that caught my attention.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 3

History benefits from the fact that the narrative is the subject and thus a nice structure and flow is built in. Each chapter does a nice job of taking the reader from point to point and having each new section or sub-section link with the one that came before. The one area that could be pointed to as a weakness is how the chapter topics are organized. One of the goals of World Civ is to study the earth and it's people as a whole, rather than looking at just one region as is done in Western Civ, African Civ, etc. Other textbooks in world history achieve this by organizing chapters by topic and trying to use the chapter to compare say, Rome and the Han dynasty, or look at developments in Africa at the same time as South America. Instead the text runs the risk of organizing world history as a collection of political and cultural entities that occasionally bump into each other. It would be the equivalent of having a Western Civ course that forgoes looking at all the revolutions of the mid 19th century as part of a larger movement in Europe and instead looking at individual countries as isolated bodies.

This isn't saying the book doesn't cover the material, but it does reinforce the idea that world history courses are supposed to break down. Look at the some of the chapters:

-Prehistory
-Early Middle East and North African Civ
-Ancient and Medieval India
-China and East Asia
-The Greek World from Bronze Age to Rome
-The Roman World
-Western Europe and Byzantium
-Islam to the Mamluks
-Africa to 1500 (really? one chapter will cover the entire continent for the entire period covered by the text?

Some chapters cross cutlural boundaries, like Islam to the Mamluks, but looking at the others I don't see a "world history" text as much as "histories all over the world."

Interfaz clasificación: 5

The text is clean and effective in this regard. There aren't lots of bells and whistles, but that's not always a problem.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 4

There were a few errors that naturally will creep in with a text of this size. Page 5 is missing the 'n" in Neanderthal for example. The book is by no means ruined by errors. I find errors in books by big publishers, so given that they have more money to throw at editing and production, having the same number of errors is pretty good.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 4

You aren't going to be able to talk about every culture and people on the planet for the last several millennia and not offend either by omission or commission. There are no clear, obvious, or overt attempts at poking one particular culture in the ribs, but history is controversial, and controversy by nature offends. Given that the book is world history I think you have "variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds" covered.

Our school is making a big push in the direction of OER resources and reducing student costs while maintaining academic integrity. I helped contribute to a similar project for American history, and for a while that was the only course for which we had a full OER textbook. With this volume, plus another for Western Civ that we recently found, we are getting close to being able to offer all of our core classes with OER options. It's not a perfect book, but none are.

One area where the big publishers still have a distinct advantage is in digital supplements (Connect, Inquisitive, etc.). It there any plan for creating similar supplements for this book or others? Many of my online instructors use those heavily and would be hesitant to adopt an OER book, even though it's academically sound, if it means all their assignments, quizzes, etc. are washed away and they have to design the class all over.

Opinión de Mary Soots, Adjust Professor, Portland State University on 2/8/17

Exhaustividad clasificación: 3 ver menos

The book is comprehensive and all-encompassing in the development of states and societies throughout the world. It tends to be a bit Eurocentric, with chapters dedicated to Greek/Roman/ Byzantine/ Western Europe, while other regions of the world are assigned one chapter through various empires. Thus, one gets a more complete picture of some empires and a broad overview of others.

Precisión de contenido clasificación: 5

The content of the book aligns with my knowledge of the information.

Relevancia / Longevidad clasificación: 5

Because this is a book that focuses on the development of states and societies through 1500, the content may never change. However, the interpretation of content through new information may be possible. The organization of the book (by geographical area) makes it easy to update if necessary.

Claridad clasificación: 5

This book is well written in language that anyone can understand. It is quite easy to understand, and relates history in an interesting manner.

Consistencia clasificación: 5

The book is ideal for students of many disciplines because of its organization and content. The framework explores individual geographic regions and the influences upon and between social groups. Through research by different authors, each chapter is consistently supported by existing data, and uses the same thematic ideas in each chapter/region.

Modularidad clasificación: 5

The text book is arranged chronologically and geographically as, so it is simple to start reading at any point. Instructors of history may use the entire book as a class text, while instructors of other classes may choose to assign reading for only a region or historical period without any disruption.

Organización / Estructura / Flujo clasificación: 5

The organization of the book is good. It includes the chronology of each region/time frame, an introduction, questions to guide the reader, key terms, and the factors of importance to the formation of state societies/empires in each region, followed by a conclusion, references, and links to other sources.

Interfaz clasificación: 5

The book had no significant interface issues that I could detect. The graphics that are used beautifully illustrate the ideas presented.

Errores gramaticales clasificación: 5

The book was well written. I found no grammatical errors.

Relevancia cultural clasificación: 5

The book was in no way offensive. On the contrary, it seeks to explain the daily life of different societies, which is a way of creating understanding between cultures.

The book presents very relevant information as a way of explaining the formation of state societies and the interactions between the societies/empires. But at the same time, it depicts the way of life and the subsistence patterns, which give a nice perspective of life in those places. I would recommend it for studies of students in many different academic disciplines.