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World History in Documents: A Comparative Reader
At a time when the teaching of world history is undergoing profound change, Peter N. Stearns has collected a remarkably diverse and original set of documents which anticipate new directions in the field.
World History in Documents combines original sources on key world history topics, covering a sweeping range of periods and societies, with the challenge of comparative analysis. With its emphasis on the utility of primary materials, the book presents historical documents from the major regions of the world and enables the reader to deal recurrently with topics from all continents.
From Hammurabi to Hitler, the Peloponnesian War to Peronism, the Magna Carta to Octavia Paz's Mexico, Stearns covers the scope of human activity, encompassing politics, culture, gender, labor, migration, and social structure. Substantial introductions set the stage for the five major time periods as well as the subject of each chapter. Questions guide student reading and can form the basis for classroom discussion. Throughout, comparative topics are highlighted, enabling students to compare and contrast different societies around a common topic.
World History in Documents combines original sources on key world history topics, covering a sweeping range of periods and societies, with the challenge of comparative analysis. With its emphasis on the utility of primary materials, the book presents historical documents from the major regions of the world and enables the reader to deal recurrently with topics from all continents.
From Hammurabi to Hitler, the Peloponnesian War to Peronism, the Magna Carta to Octavia Paz's Mexico, Stearns covers the scope of human activity, encompassing politics, culture, gender, labor, migration, and social structure. Substantial introductions set the stage for the five major time periods as well as the subject of each chapter. Questions guide student reading and can form the basis for classroom discussion. Throughout, comparative topics are highlighted, enabling students to compare and contrast different societies around a common topic.
417 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Peter N. Stearns
311 books33 followersPeter Nathaniel Stearns is a professor at George Mason University, where he was provost from January 1, 2000 to July 2014.
Stearns was chair of the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University and also served as the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (now named Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences) at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, he founded and edited the Journal of Social History. While at Carnegie Mellon, he developed a pioneering approach to teaching World History, and has contributed to the field as well through editing, and contributing to, the Routledge series, Themes in World History. He is also known for various work on the nature and impact of the industrial revolution and for exploration of new topics, particularly in the history of emotions.
He is active in historical groups such as the American Historical Association, the Society for French Historical Studies, the Social Science History Association and the International Society for Research on Emotion.
Stearns was chair of the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University and also served as the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (now named Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences) at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, he founded and edited the Journal of Social History. While at Carnegie Mellon, he developed a pioneering approach to teaching World History, and has contributed to the field as well through editing, and contributing to, the Routledge series, Themes in World History. He is also known for various work on the nature and impact of the industrial revolution and for exploration of new topics, particularly in the history of emotions.
He is active in historical groups such as the American Historical Association, the Society for French Historical Studies, the Social Science History Association and the International Society for Research on Emotion.
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January 24, 2021
I read sections of this for my World History class, so I didn't really complete the whole thing, but I'm probably not going to be returning to it any time soon, so I'm just marking it as "read." The documents that I read were interesting and it was very neat to have insight into different sides of issues; the Christian versus Muslim accounts of the Crusades were especially interesting, although maybe I just think that because I had to read them a bunch so I could write an essay about them
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Displaying 1 of 1 review