World History Volume 1: to 1500

Reviewed by Erica Buchberger, Associate Professor, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 4/19/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Each topic and region covered is done thoroughly, but in the ancient period there’s extra weight on Rome and the medieval period is a bit Middle East heavy. There’s also a near complete absence of Oceania and some other societies on the margins of major empires, like the Celts. An exception to this is “Border States: Sogdiana, Korea, and Japan” in chapter 12. Overall, though, the coverage and balance is better than many existing World History 1 texts where Europe often dominates.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

I’ll speak to my specialist area, early medieval Europe, as the one I’m best placed to evaluate the accuracy of. This book presents a mostly accurate and nuanced portrayal of the current scholarly consensus of late antiquity and the early European Middle Ages, with a few glaring problems in discussions of the “Germanic” peoples. A “Dueling Voices” section presents scholars’ debates about collapse vs. transformation of the western Roman Empire. Different post-Roman experiences by region are acknowledged, and described fairly well. The problem of applying a linguistic category (speaking a “Germanic” language) to peoples in an ethnic sense is raised and the myth of rigid ethnic groups deftly disposed of. That makes it all the more surprising to see an outdated use of “German” and “Germanic” interchangeably, and a selective portrayal of Germanic society as more patriarchal and violent to women than Roman or other neighboring societies.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is fairly up-to-date, and its modular organization means many updates to it are straightforward and can be done as soon as the next semester. Corrections or suggestions are encouraged on the website, and a viewable “errata” list provides transparency on recent suggestions and their implementation. Recent examples show the occasional corrected typo and one instance of a correction for accuracy.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is very clear, with terms well described for novices and a helpful glossary. The prose is also engaging.

Consistency rating: 5

Chapters are all structured similarly, and sections fit together well within the book’s framing, with no obvious disconnect between different regions or eras. There are no major terminological shifts, and when a term means something slightly different in a different context, that is clearly explained.

Modularity rating: 5

Section and chapter introductions are general enough that they would still work well if a professor chose to realign or omit chapters or subsections. Each chapter is divided into sections that can be placed individually in an LMS, and the course package makes that easy. There are many subheadings within each section that further allow for assigning a selection of the text.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Learning objectives and a section summary serve as helpful bookends for each chapter. Each chapter, and the book as a whole, is generally presented in a logical order, though the ancient Americas chapter includes everything pre-Columbian in the 1000 BCE-500 CE section – though the errata list shows that a user already requested this be changed, and that it’s being considered for the future since that would require some major structural change to the book.

Interface rating: 4

The desktop interface is easy to navigate while reading, and resizing the font does not distort charts or images. The contents menu includes chapter sections, though not subsections. There is a separate tab for highlights, but if you want to navigate to one, it will open in a different window instead of having a side panel like the table of contents. This is clunky, and makes it hard to see the context for highlights. If all you want to use the highlights for is to create a summary, though, you will have a ready-made list complete with chapter sections.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I saw no grammatical errors and just one typo.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Coverage is fairly diverse, with most of the world well represented (except Oceania). Interactions and travels between regions, and the presence of minorities within regions, is commonly discussed.

Comments

The ancillary resources include Powerpoints, a test bank, and instructor answer guide. The course cartridge is as modular as the book, and includes some very useful “how to’s” and “why’s” for students. 17 chapters makes use in a 14-15-week semester without modification somewhat challenging, but not insurmountable.
Overall, this is an excellent text with good support materials and mechanisms for future-proofing. It is a huge improvement over existing OER options for the first half of World History.

Reviewed by Mark Norris, Professor of History, Grace College on 3/27/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

"World History to 1500," volume 1, by Anna Kordas, Ryan J. Lynch, Brooke Nelson, and Julie Tatlock is an excellent survey that will work well for the first of two semesters of a college introductory course in global history for majors or nonmanors. It is very comprehensive for a survey textbook. The first of its seventeen chapters introduces the students to "Understanding the Past" followed by a chapter on pre-history. The ensuing chapters take on a traditional chronological approach. The sixteenth chapter looks at The text "Climate Change and Plague in the Fourteenth Century," and this volume ends with "The Ottomans, the Mamluks, and the Ming." This work contains a helpful index and a glossary as well as good maps and useful hyperlinks to online sources.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Everything that I have read is very accurate. An impressive amount of historians were engaged in the research and writing of this work. Added to its four senior authors, are eighteen contributing authors, and nearly seventy reviewers -- all giving the work helpful perspectives, and therefore, much credibility.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Since the book has a more traditional chronological focus and does not have a strict thematic approach, it is released from marrying itself to meta-themes that may easily become outdated. However, the scholarship is up to date and is written with clear and relevant learning objectives and in a fresh style.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is clear and concise. All technical/historical terms are clearly defined. It is impressive that the work not only gives good context and definitions of terms in the text, but also includes a section at the end of each chapter that defines key terms and a glossary at the end of the book. This is the best example of clarity of terms and context that I have seen in any general history survey. For example, "animism" is clearly defined within its prehistoric context in chapter 2, "Early Humans," and is defined a second time at the end of the chapter under "Key Terms." Animism again appears in the glossary."

Consistency rating: 5

The terminology and framework are consistent throughout. Everything seems well-balanced. I do not see chapters that are too dense with technical terms or chapters that are too brief or shallow.

Modularity rating: 5

A strong point of this work is that the text is divided into helpful reading sections. These could easily be re-arranged if one wanted to have a more thematic approach. For example, chapter 3, "Early Civilizations and Urban Societies" is divided into four sections that are clearly labeled in blue type: "Early Civilizations," "Ancient Mesopotamia," "Ancient Egypt," and "The Indus Valley Civilization." Each is then subdivided into several subsections (also labeled in blue type). For example, "Ancient Egypt" is divided into: "The Origins of Ancient Egypt" (further subdivided into "The Pharoah" and "Egyptian Writing"), "The Age of Pyramid Building," and "A Second Age of Egyptian Greatness," Any of these sections or subsections may easily be taken out and re-arranged if need be.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics flow naturally. They appear primarily chronological as mentioned earlier, but secondarily, according to their geographical context. So, for example, the Roman Republic is dealt with in chapter 6 "Mediterranean Peoples." "Experiencing the Roman Empire" is the theme for chapter 7. The Byzantine Empire is examined in chapter 10 under "Empires of Faith," and chapter 13 analyzes "The Post-Roman West and the Crusading Movement."

Interface rating: 5

The text is wonderfully interfaced with helpful charts, graphs, primary sources, and hyperlinks in each chapter under what is entitled, "Link to Learning." The pictures of artifacts, people, and places add deeper contexts to the text and are pleasant to examine.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not see any grammatical mistakes in this work.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is highly sensitive to cultures around the globe. It often provides helpful contexts of previously marginalized groups. There are many examples of this including in Chapter 2, "Early Humans," in which appears a wonderful, digitally restored photo taken in 1929 of an Inuit family. This section of the chapter clearly shows Inuit culture in its ancient context as well as in its modern expression -- making this more relatable to the reader. The format invites the reader to have empathy for and understanding of the culture of these native Americans.

Comments

There are many additional resources in each chapter including timelines and helps labeled: "Beyond the Book," "Dualing Voices," "The Past Meets the Present," and "In Their Own Words." Questions are also provided in each chapter including multiple-choice, questions that check one's understanding, and those that invite application and reflection. Volume 1 of "World History" is so user-friendly and student-focused that additional works, sources, or resources will not be needed.