Customer Reviews

World civilizations: The global experience

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've been reading and comparing a few global history texts, and this one is in another class. If you're wanting a chronological narrative treading the traditional origins, greek, egyptian, indus valley . . . pattern then this text will not please you. If you're after a well written and presented text combining a good synthesis of fact with thought provoking analysis then this IS for you! I can see perhaps why lecturers might go for other more factual texts if they want to look at the global past in different terms to this one, however I think they can't go wrong with the themes Stearns and co. explore. Its got that perfect balance of fact and analysis. The boxed features and lengthy document extracts fit in well, and the lists of sources are well worthwhile.
So yes, you WILL learn a lot from this book because instead of just providing a series of events, people, terms and dates to rote learn it will get you thinking about the themes of global history, and encourage you to compare, contrast and evaluate. Its also one of the few "World History" texts that isn't a Western Civilization history with a few extra chapters thrown in. It really looks at the whole world with a fresh view, including a variety of cultures and experiences. In the Classical era you'll recieve valuable insights into nomadic peoples, providing the opportunity to understand differing means of organising society and allowing worthwhile comparisons that actually enhance understanding the more well trodden ground of Greece, Rome etc. Other fascinating coverage in this vein includes chapters about migration and the spread of peoples (Africans, Slavs and Polynesians), a whole chapter on the Mongol empire and the independence and nationhood movements of Latin America. I reiterate that these other perspectives are introduced in a way which enhances the overall understanding of world history, and are certainly not arbitary "pc" insertions. The authors do not shirk from showing the rise of the west, and the positives and negatives of imperialism. However it also allows us to see the limitations, and non-inevitability of this rise.
If you insist on reading a solely factual survey text, Traditions and Encounters by Bentley and Ziegler will do a great job, however for any student or enthusiast of World History, this book will open your eyes to new perspectives and really encourage you to engage your braincells!

I have this book for AP World history, and I have read Michael Adas' (one of the authors of the book) essay on the "new" world history. The "new" world history emphasizes analysis and comparison between different civilizations, unlike the "old" history which emphasizes comprehensiveness and rote. This book does indeed teach along the lines of the "new" history, and I appreciate that it does not tread into the Euro-centrism or exceptionalism of America that most World History books diverge into.

However, I have some serious problems with this book. While the authors analyze many aspects of each civilization, I find them to be excessively politically correct. And while I find the political correctness irritating, that is not my biggest problem with this book.

My biggest problem is that this textbook is laden with factual errors. After reading just two chapters, I found dozens of errors, especially in the chapter on the Aztecs. Therefore, I do not know whether I can rely on this book as a source of information.

I hope Stearns et al. fix their mistakes. It is important to look at history in an analytical way, but one cannot analyze incorrect facts.

While some may at first find this book to be daughting, or even uninformative, they would be surprised to learn that what the book presents is one of the most unbiased accounts of World History. As a student who was taught AP World History, I found the book to be incredible. Along with incredibly factual passages, the book also includes primary sources to aid learning. In additon, the book is completely unbiased; spending as much time if not more on African, Asian, and Western roots as it does on Rome, Egypt, or the Greeks. Also, the book spends extraordinay amounts of time discussing ALL of the civilizations of the world, not just the cut and dry topics that were explored in the years before. Despite what the other reviewer has said, this book is the most incredible source of history I have ever read, and should be standard in schools around the country. Regarding the expense, with a source as good as this, the cost is minimal. I found the book so helpful I actually purchased my own copy after I finished the cource.

Having used this book, I can say that while it is a textbook and has information, it is lengthy and disorganized. They de-emphasize certain things too much and put too much pressure on others, especially specific topics. There are some "in depth" sections that are helpful, but I found that they would bring up the same event in little pieces and really does NOT serve its purpose as a world history course. Focusing too much on the details, this book has no system of organization and does not provide a global scale or give any sort of sense of world history.

In closing, I do not recommend this book. I have had many frustrations with the writing style, immense detail, and lack of clarity. There are other, more organized, more accurate books out there for AP World History.

This book is quite appropriate for the AP World History test, and provides you with most of the information you'll need for the test, however, it does contain several gaping flaws if read purely for interest or outside the context of an AP class. As some other reviewers have mentioned, it attempts to be too politically correct, and dissmisses European achievements, while hailing many less significant foreign ones. It also focuses on the role of women too much in certain civilizations, sometimes writing more about it than achievements in science, for instane.

Additionally, there are long, complicated events that are summarized a tad too much. For instance, it basically covered the entire history of the American Revolution and its impact on the world in a paragraph or two, and describes all the events and battles in a few sentences. Of course, in certain situations, this would be a good thing, as it gives more of a general overview of the world, which is often what the AP test is designed to test you on, however for an enthousiastic reader, it is quite dissappointing.

Overall, it will serve its purpose very well if you're a student, but if you're not, you better find something else to read.

Although concise, Stearns completely ignores the civilizations of the Americas, and has little information on the civilizations of Africa and the pacific islands. Textbooks like this are the reason American students know nothing of native American history. Stearns also is shaky on explaining trade and the connections and influences between civilizations. His visuals and primary sources are few and uninteresting and mislabeled. If this is your class textbook, don't be satisfied! Find other sources to give you a more complete education on world history.

I used this book for a my World Civ. class online. If you have taken any online class before you know that it requires reading. I found this book very easy to read compared to my other books for Geography and History.

This book listed all the needed information for a high school/college
class at a great price. Just what we needed!

We use this book in my AP World HIstory class, and I find it quite useless. It's written sometimes using to casual of language, but still has bulky, multi-sentence paragraphs that serve only to confuse. Just as other reviewers have said, is so incredibly desperate to fight Euro-Centrism that it sometimes goes off on rambling tangents of the "heroic/underreported/unknown/ignored" accomplishments of others. While I am generally a politically correct lefty-Looneytoon myself, this book is over the top in its political statements, and when studying for the AP Test, one needs less opinion, and more fact. This book rarely emphasizes order, instead it emphasizes random people and dates that most AP Professionals say aren't on the test. Finally, it has detail, just details that no one else seems to think will be on the test, but ignores more important historical facts.

If this is the book you use in class, I suggest investing in something else, like a Princeton Review or Barron's before the test. Those who self-study for tests (the only people who would be looking to by this book), should shy away from superfluous textbooks and go straight for one of the books I suggested.

Book arrived in perfect condition. It was a few days late, but that could have been because of the delays caused with the hurricane on the East Coast.