"A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution-from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state," political violence, and social inequality-and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation. For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike--either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told,...

Most historians study the smallest slivers of time, emphasizing specific dates, individuals, and documents. But what would it look like to study the whole of history, from the big bang through the present day -- and even into the remote future? How would looking at the full span of time change the way we perceive the universe, the earth, and our very existence? These were the questions David Christian set out to answer when he created the field of...

"In this year's highly anticipated Massey Lectures, internationally acclaimed historian Margaret MacMillan gives her own personal selection of the great figures of the past, women and men, who have changed the course of history and even directed the currents of their times--and sometimes with huge consequences, as in the cases of Hitler, Stalin, and Thatcher. She also acknowledges people such as Richard Nixon and George W. Bush who stubbornly went...

Presents an unprecedented vision of genuinely global history.

First published in 2011 in hardcover in the United States of America as The New Atlas of World History by Thames & Hudson, Inc. An original new way of appreciating the vast series of events that have shaped world history, allowing complete and quick comparability between different periods and regions. In Timelines, John Haywood presents a grand sweep of global history in an immediately accessible format. Using concise, insightful, and engaging text...

Relive history as it happened with this new, revised American edition. Year by year from the origins of our earliest African ancestors right up until the present day, this book covers the history of cultures and nations around the world in amazing visual detail.

This book celebrates the great speeches of world history and cultural life. In this exuberant collection, acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore takes us on a journey from ancient times to the twenty-first century: some speeches are heroic and inspiring; some diabolical and atrocious; some are exquisite and poignant; others cruel and chilling. The speakers themselves vary from empresses and conquerors to rock stars, novelists and sportsmen, dreamers...