World Civilizations: The Global Experience

by Peter N. Stearns, Michael Adas, Stuart Schwartz

Examines all the world's civilizations, including those in the Western tradition but also those civilizations sometimes neglected in world history texts. Maintaining a focus on social history explores gender, class, economic, and intellectual issues, while examining patterns of inequality and human agency throughout world history. Instructors of World Civilization surveys that prefer a global account of history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, School, World History, Textbooks, Social Science, Reference

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Peter 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.

Reviews

[Raena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my textbook in sophomore year for AP World History. I loved it! Everything was so interesting and easily understood and the graphics were nice too :D I didn't even mind outlining every chapter. Having a great teacher helped too.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was very informative, but so. long. That in addition to its (sometimes needlessly) advanced vocabulary and small script made it hell to slog through, even though it was an interesting hell. I read the entire thing, did a review book and got a 5 on the AP exam, so mission accomplished, I suppose.

For what it's intended to be, it deserves 4-5 stars. But it IS a textbook. Don't expect it to be fun, especially since it's one of the major reasons I don't read as much for fun anymore.

[Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually like history books, but this book was lacking a little. Information wise it was rich, but it falls short of the five star mark. I would have liked it more had the structure of it and layout of it been a bit better.

[Izzy Mattingly · Rating 4 out of 5]

this counts for me bc i didn’t go through 9 months of hell for nothing

[jocelyn anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a good textbook that gave me the information i needed to do well in the class. however, it is not accessible for most high schoolers and wayyy over half my grade didn’t read it because it was too difficult. if it had used simpler, more concise language, people wouldn’t have gotten so overwhelmed. but again, it worked great for me.

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was forced to read this book in Freshman year, and I did so--complete with Advil to ward off the migraines and eye drops for my red eyes after all-nighters before tests. Suffice to say that it was miserable, in the process of learning the material.

Afterwards, though, I gained a great apprecation for this book. I just graduated from High School and went back to a Freshman classroom and bought the book off some grateful kid for ten bucks. I've begun to read it again, this time with a much more learned perspective.

Love this book, love what it taught me.

Could have been more reader-friendly (eg: jokes) but the content was interesting enough, and presented in a readable fashion. :)

I'm glad to say I own this book!

[Ariana]

Very… very… thorough

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

What did I think? Well, everyone out there probably doesn't want to read everything I have thought about this book. But now that I am finished I am ecstatic and want to have a party and will never take another AP history class again. Through this book I have discovered that history is definitely not my calling. I just don't enjoy it. Props to people who do; its just not for me. CONGRATULATIONS to anyone who has ever read this textbook, I am glad to join your rankings.

[Barbara Sun · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was the death of me, I never want to see it again. BURN PARTY WOOHOO

[maanr9 ! · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this thing basically cover to cover in 10th grade and dare I say …I really liked it. It’s actually a well written textbook. I would not mind reading it again. I rate it 4 stars because making a world history textbook enjoyable to read isn’t an easy task. Shout out Mr. M my GOAT, unironically wish I got our class t-shirt now

[Rachel Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

it SUCKED don't recommend
thinking about taking AP World? don't. save yourself.

[Sujin Leek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a 4 on the ap test very girlbossy

[Darena☆]

i read this whole thing and it will help with my reading goal

the end of an era

[pahal sehgal · Rating 1 out of 5]

awful

[Aazuto_Gh0st]

There was no way I was going to read all this fir AP world and have it not count for pages read 💀
Too much Prestor John.

[j man · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite textbook; made me curious about the world and a great perspective on the history of civilization

[Cassius · Rating 2 out of 5]

900 pages and my only goat is ibn battuta

[Jun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading it because my daughter complaints about her APWH teacher does not teach. :-)

The reading level is a bit over a high school sophomore, especially for a class that finishes a chapter (20-30 pages) within a week, in about two sessions, with all the quiz and testing time included. Teachers who expect HS students to read the book and get most of it are kidding themselves. As much as I love history and reading, I did not enjoy reading this particular history book. I can understand why some kids who loved history hate this book.

Two things in this book bothered me the most:

(1) Please get the basic facts right. This is a text book, after all!

Just to give a couple examples in Chinese history, since this is where the class is at for the end of the first quarter.

(a) Don't mix the names of the Chinese Emperors with their temple names/titles that they got after their death. Zhao Kuang'yin was not renamed Emperor Taizu (as the book says on page 272) - he never changed his name, Taizu is the temple title he got after he died. Instead of making him a deity (as the Romans did), Chinese Emperor was given a temple name/title based on his virtue or achievements as a ruler. Taizu simply means the beginner ruler of a dynasty, which Zhao Kuang'yin was for the Song Dynasty. By the same logic, there are more than one Wendi in Chinese history, so it is not appropriate to call Yang, Jian simply by "Wendi" (especially when he was only a noble family member before becoming the emperor, as stated on page 264) , he's the Wendi for the Sui Dynasty, so the appropriate temple name is Sui Wen'di, and his real name is Yang, Jian.

(b) The kingdom the Jurchens established is not Qin, as the book said so many times in Asia chapters. The correct name is Jin. There are several Qin empires/kingdoms in Chinese history, but the only two related to the Jurchens are either Jin (which took down Liao Dyansty and drove Song Dynasty to south), or the Qing empire (which was the empire after Ming Dynasty). It is very confusing, and sometimes amusing, to see Qin incorrectly mentioned in many places in chapters related to Korean, Japan, and Yuan Dynasty. For example, Chinggis Khan's great-grandfather could not possibly win glory by defeating the army of the Qin kingdom (page 316), at least without time-traveling!

(2) The political correctness of this book is ... I cannot find a politically correct word to describe it politely. Again, using an example from Chinese history, this book talked about how the Yuan Dynasty brought peace to Asia, and how tolerant the Yuan rulers were to the religious beliefs after they conquered China and other regions - totally BS (!!!) considering how many people they killed. It is like saying, for every 100 Chinese lived there, the Yuan rulers came in and killed 91% of them, bringing peace and "tolerating" the religious believes of the remaining 9 people, who were probably too busy trying to survive the genocide than worrying about their religious freedom.

I do wish the authors of this chapter someday enjoy the same religious freedom and global interactions they sang such high praises in the book, which probably is the only way to help they to see the unspeakable cruelty that these conquers brought upon ordinary people. The Yuan rulers did not have the basic respect of human life, they killed people as if they were animals, and you think they would respect people's religion and tolerate their beliefs? They did not care what religion people believed, but that is NOT tolerance. And when did genocide become a legitimate method to peace?

It gave me a good reason to talk to my daughter about the objectiveness of history. My opinions have always been: do not just belief everything the history book says, even if it is a text book. Read several books of different perspectives. Find the historical records and analyze them yourself.

[Empress Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put this book down. I love the stories.

[Gabriela Freitas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my AP World textbook and for the first semester of the class, I read every chapter because a 5 on the exam was my goal. It ended up being too much because this textbook is extremely boring and long. Topics that I enjoy like WWII and the Byzantine empire were somehow made uninteresting through this textbook. It did the job since it gave a ton of information, but all the random facts and dates that the book throws at you does not help you on the exam at all. The AP exam does not require specific, picky facts but rather bigger ideas and broader events.

So, in second semester I did not read the textbook because it was a waste of my time, and I studied the material in more useful ways like notes from lectures and videos. I ended up getting a 5 on the exam this year because of the addition of better study habits.

[Hannah Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this for my world history advanced placement class this year to prepare us for the exam. Sterns is very thorough with each civilization, and has more information than most textbooks on this subject have. Although it is very fun to read in some places, most chapters are extremely difficult to read as they are so dry and 'boring'. The topic of the paragraphs seem to jump around without cause, leaving the reader wondering if Sterns is still taking about the original subject in the paragraph or if he has moved on to another subject pertaining to the same area of civilization. It can at times be very confusing. Good read though.

[Maaya · Rating 1 out of 5]

I absolutely loathe how long-winded this textbook is. The paragraphs are most definitely not succinct and a few pages could be edited out of each chapter. The entire book focuses more on certain civilizations than others, producing quite an unbalanced view of world history (I mean, how could ANYONE combine the civilizations of Persia, Greece, and Rome into ONE chapter, while dedicating three consecutive chapters to Islam) The only aspects that were helpful in the least were the timelines and vocabulary.

[Allysia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took World History in my freshman year of High-School and I absolutely loved it. Sometimes outlining this book seemed tedious but after I was done with the course, I'd really grown to love this book.

[Ivory · Rating 1 out of 5]

It sucked MAJORLY! Sorry Snips!

[VG/Allie]

I hate this Fugging book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[John Tosin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book and very easy to read.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm adding this to my "read" list because after taking notes from every page in this book for my A.P. World History class this year, I think of it as an accomplishment :) Haha.

[Cassandrah Davis]

Have to admit to falling asleep while reading.

[Anika · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read an entire textbook!

[준 박]

it is good