World History

by William J. Duiker, Jackson J Spielvogel PhD

Contains Chapter Outlines, Terms and Persons to Know, Mapwork, Datework, Primary Sourcework, Artwork, Identifying Important Concepts Behind the Conclusion, and new Multiple-choice questions and Web Resources.

Genres: History, Textbooks, School, Nonfiction, Reference

1024 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

William J. Duiker is a former United States Foreign Service officer and Professor of History at Penn State University. His area of expertise is East Asia; while in the Foreign Service he spent several years in Vietnam, where an injury left him with partial hearing in one ear. Duiker is the author of Ho Chi Minh: A Life, published in 2000, which was the first comprehensive biography of Ho Chi Minh using sources from Vietnam. He recently retired from teaching.

Reviews

[Ozymandias · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very much a traditionalist sort of world history text. Its organization is built around a series of different civilizations. There’s a chapter on the Greeks, for example. And one on early China through the Han, early India through the Maurya, early America through the conquest, etc. Each civilization is covered independently of the other and goes through a string of different elements: political, religious, family, economic, social, etc. Until the midpoint where European traders start to appear all over the world there’s really no look at the interconnectedness of different cultures (China’s influence on its neighboring states being the key exception).

This isn’t really a criticism so much as an observation. Clustering cultures by civilization is no less reasonable than grouping them by era or theme. And it is nice to be able to focus on a single civilization at a time. With a lot of other world history textbooks, I worry that students will view these civilizations as an undifferentiated blob. It is possible to focus too much on interconnectedness. If you spend your time discussing slavery (for example) across the ancient world it’s only natural that students will end up unable to say what separates Rome from India.

It does come with one major disadvantage though: by focusing on civilizations rather than eras or broad threads it completely removes any possibility of a single narrative thread for the course. If you want to trace societal or scientific developments across cultures you’re going to be repeating yourself quite a lot. It’s rather hard to have an overall sense of progression when each chapter is defined by complete independence. That said, it does allow you to have a stronger narrative within individual classes. Tracing the rise and fall of the Roman Empire within a single or pair of classes really helps you see the interconnected threads of Roman society. As someone who focuses on teaching history like a story that’s an important factor. It’s all about what you’re trying to do.

It does have to be said that the book is not very exciting. This is true of almost any textbook really, but the repetitiveness of this book is particularly noticeable. Chapters seem intent on covering as much as possible rather than focusing on one or two running themes. This is of course common in traditional world history courses. Your mileage will vary. It also has a decidedly Eurocentric focus. You can bet any European encounter with another culture will get attention, but the other way round is less sure. Mostly though it’s Europe-normative. Again, see last disclaimer. But I suspect this is just unavoidable to some degree when teaching beginner’s courses. Everyone needs a point of reference, and in America that tends to be western civilization.

Writing a textbook is hard and it often feels like the main sources for textbooks are not modern scholarship but earlier textbooks. I certainly feel that here. There are times when it just repeats long discredited ideas like they are current. Yet there are also times when the book is extremely modern, possibly as a result of being a later edition. The result is an odd patchwork of up to date and outdated material. When it does engage with scholarly debates it does so in a halfhearted and vague manner to avoid confusing students. In fairness, I don’t know of any textbook that deals with modern historiography very well and Duiker is probably more detailed than most.

If this sounds good to you this may be the textbook you want. It does a good job of covering a wide variety of civilizations. The fact that it covers too much in an unexciting way is a potential advantage if you treat it right. If you don’t follow everything the book says verbatim it leaves you with a lot of room to expand on things your way. If you’re looking for a more interconnected approach, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart or The Webs of Humankind are probably more your thing.

[Kevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Typical textbook. Written by people that should stick to writing academic articles for an audience of stuffy eggheads. I find this book to be ideal for being passed around at sleep disorder clinics, however.

Sadly, I learned more about this book's intended topics from the YouTube channel called Crash Course History. Ten minute videos that were entertaining and educational. Sad when hundreds of pages of a textbook can be replaced so much more effectively by YouTube.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the text I use in my 2 world history courses (Part 1 is to 1648; part 2 is 1648 to the present).

[Cory Lowery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A standard undergraduate text, Duiker and Spielvogel's volume functions as a survey the history of the world's major civilizations. Students without a prior grounding in the major themes of history and a familiarity with some of the basics of world religion, comparative politics, and some comfort with foreign words and names will struggle to keep up with rapid-fire introductions to a dizzying array of historical events, figures, and sociological developments. That being said, Duiker and Spielvogel's text does an admirable job of synthesizing a broad-minded narrative of human history that promotes appreciation for cultures which continue to shape global society.

As any history educator might hope, the text is richly illustrated with images of architecture, classic artworks, and most importantly, sizable extracts from crucial primary sources running the gamut from Confucian scholars and Enlightenment philosophes to Koranic scriptures and Zen poetry. My only complaint as a history educator relate to the bizarre decision on the part of the book's authors to insist on using obsolete transcriptions of East Asian names and places, an unfortunate choice that made the sections on Korean history especially challenging to decipher.

I'd argue that there are also historiographical problems with the chapters on recent history, especially the rather uncritical portrayal of the U.S.'s intervention in the Middle East over the course of the 90s and 2000s, one that renders the United States's lawless rampages through the region as a sort of humanitarian mission to contain Islamism and foster political stability. It shouldn't take a degree in history to recognize that this isn't a balanced account of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world, especially when the perspectives of Iraqis, Afghanis, Iranians, Libyans, and the many other victims of Western depredation are fully considered.

[Yz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read half this semester will read the next half next

[Donald J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ridiculously boring