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Making Sense of World History
Making Sense of World History is a comprehensive and accessible textbook that helps students understand the key themes of world history within a chronological framework stretching from ancient times to the present day.
To lend coherence to its narrative, the book employs a set of organizing devices that connect times, places, and/or themes. This narrative is supported
Flowcharts that show how phenomena within diverse broad themes interact in generating key processes and events in world history.A discussion of the common challenges faced by different types of agent, including rulers, merchants, farmers, and parents, and a comparison of how these challenges were addressed in different times and places.An exhaustive and balanced treatment of themes such as culture, politics, and economy, with an emphasis on interaction.Explicit attention to skill acquisition in organizing information, cultural sensitivity, comparison, visual literacy, integration, interrogating primary sources, and critical thinking.A focus on historical “episodes” that are carefully related to each other.Through the use of such devices, the book shows the cumulative effect of thematic interactions through time, communicates the many ways in which societies have influenced each other through history, and allows us to compare and contrast how they have reacted to similar challenges. They also allow the reader to transcend historical controversies and can be used to stimulate class discussions and guide student assignments.
With a unified authorial voice and offering a narrative from the ancient to the present, this is the go-to textbook for World History courses and students.
The Open Access version of this book has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
To lend coherence to its narrative, the book employs a set of organizing devices that connect times, places, and/or themes. This narrative is supported
Flowcharts that show how phenomena within diverse broad themes interact in generating key processes and events in world history.A discussion of the common challenges faced by different types of agent, including rulers, merchants, farmers, and parents, and a comparison of how these challenges were addressed in different times and places.An exhaustive and balanced treatment of themes such as culture, politics, and economy, with an emphasis on interaction.Explicit attention to skill acquisition in organizing information, cultural sensitivity, comparison, visual literacy, integration, interrogating primary sources, and critical thinking.A focus on historical “episodes” that are carefully related to each other.Through the use of such devices, the book shows the cumulative effect of thematic interactions through time, communicates the many ways in which societies have influenced each other through history, and allows us to compare and contrast how they have reacted to similar challenges. They also allow the reader to transcend historical controversies and can be used to stimulate class discussions and guide student assignments.
With a unified authorial voice and offering a narrative from the ancient to the present, this is the go-to textbook for World History courses and students.
The Open Access version of this book has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
1437 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 22, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 25, 2021
In a word, horrible!!!
I have never read an author of history worse. The first 40 pages are telling the reader what you will read, how you should read it, and why you really can’t comprehend world history as taught by anyone else. It goes downhill from there. A good editor should have caught the multiple ‘as we said in the last chapter’ or ‘as previously stated.’ The royal We is used everywhere. It is condescending and overblown. The author spends pages on The Big Bang after explaining ‘we’ (I am unsure if he means the reader or humankind) just can’t comprehend what happened. But he pulls some lovely graphics from NASA exploring it nonetheless. After almost 100 pages, I quit. I try very hard to give any author at least 1/3 of a book to get his kinks straightened out but this was not worth the brain cells I was frying.
Btw, before anyone tries to defend this mess, my degrees were in History and English. And while it has been many years since grad school - if any professor I took had tried to pass this pile of dog ****** off as a text book, the students would have left in mass after just attempting to read the prelude.
Poor writing, way too wordy and rather unsure of the subject. Not worth your time. But the graphs are excellent. Lol.
I have never read an author of history worse. The first 40 pages are telling the reader what you will read, how you should read it, and why you really can’t comprehend world history as taught by anyone else. It goes downhill from there. A good editor should have caught the multiple ‘as we said in the last chapter’ or ‘as previously stated.’ The royal We is used everywhere. It is condescending and overblown. The author spends pages on The Big Bang after explaining ‘we’ (I am unsure if he means the reader or humankind) just can’t comprehend what happened. But he pulls some lovely graphics from NASA exploring it nonetheless. After almost 100 pages, I quit. I try very hard to give any author at least 1/3 of a book to get his kinks straightened out but this was not worth the brain cells I was frying.
Btw, before anyone tries to defend this mess, my degrees were in History and English. And while it has been many years since grad school - if any professor I took had tried to pass this pile of dog ****** off as a text book, the students would have left in mass after just attempting to read the prelude.
Poor writing, way too wordy and rather unsure of the subject. Not worth your time. But the graphs are excellent. Lol.
November 13, 2021
remarkable book telling on how history of humanity crafting our past and hopefully telling us about our future
The approach of book to "not to storytell" the reader with history as a story but rather give a simple yet insightful summary of our past. give a plus with multifacet analysis to tell about " How The thing is happening".
The approach of book to "not to storytell" the reader with history as a story but rather give a simple yet insightful summary of our past. give a plus with multifacet analysis to tell about " How The thing is happening".
April 26, 2023
Perhaps if I'd encountered this book in paper form, I'd be more generous with my stars. As it is, I might use this as a resource but my original plan to read it alongside a work of fiction was thwarted once I hit the table of contents.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews