The Human Web: A Bird's-Eye View of World History (Hardcover)

~ (Author), (Author) "Shattered bones, chipped stones, and bits of charcoal are all the evidence we have of how our remote ancestors actually lived..." (more)
Key Phrases: cosmopolitan web, metropolitan webs, steppe raiders, United States, Old World Web, Indian Ocean (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The spread of agriculture, the growth of world religions and the rise of European civilization to world dominance are some of the themes explored in this engrossing addition to the distinctive McNeill brand of broad-brush macro-history. The motor of history this time is the growing "web" of interactions-weaving together hunter-gatherer bands, then civilizations and finally the whole world-by which people, goods, diseases and ideas spread. As it binds ever more people ever more tightly, the web both brings them into conflict and lets them share and build on each other's achievements; thus Columbus's extension of the web to the Americas led to conquest but also to the exchange of New World potatoes and maize for Old World horses and smallpox. The father-son historian duo also revisit ideas from William's previous books, discussing the co-evolution of humans and microbes, the uneasy symbiosis between warrior elites and the farmers they protect and exploit, and the social solidarity imparted by group singing and dancing. More ecological than humanistic, the McNeill outlook sees conflict and cooperation as twin outcomes of the struggle for survival that drives developments in technology, political organization, social habits and even religious beliefs. This approach can be reductionist (Europe's vibrant civil society is said to spring from its use of mold-board plows); and as impersonal historical meta-agents go, the trendy "web" conceit is less substantive and fertile than other McNeill brainstorms. Still, this concise and beautifully written synthesis brims with revealing insights that make history comprehensible and enthralling. 25 illus., maps.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

J.R. and father William, both history professors, unravel the various webs that have connected humans through time.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (February 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039305179X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393051797
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #515,154 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A major work for general readers, December 13, 2003

By	Jukka Kemppinen "Dr. Jukka Kemppinen" (Kirkkonummi, Finnland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

W.H. McNeill has written several of the top 20 works for specialists and general audience on general history. This work is a breathtaking overview of world history seen in the context of environment.

People who rightly were thrilled by Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" should go on and enjoy this rare treat: lucid and easy to understand, based on a wealth of erudition connected with plain sense, a new vision.

Young readers might get ideas about a change of courses. As a university professor I immediately took this book up as reading matter for my students - mostly engineers and lawyers at present.

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Overall View of History, June 12, 2003

By	John D. Cofield - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

The Human Web is an excellent summary of human history. It is indeed a bird's eye view in that it looks at the broad overall sweep of human affairs and doesn't bog down in unnecessary detail. The major theme is the construction and expansion of human webs, or interconnections that tie cultures and civilizations together ever more tightly. If space voyagers ever arrived on Earth (and could read a human language) this book would be one of the first things I hope we hand them to help them understand us.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fine but short., August 9, 2008

By	César González Rouco (Madrid, Madrid Spain) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: The Human Web: A Bird's-Eye View of World History (Paperback)

Due to that, in addition to "The Human Web", for those looking for a broad framework to understand the past, I would recommend to read the following works, whose scope is amazingly global: 1. Agrarian cultures: "Pre-industrial societies" by Patricia Crone; 2. Economy: "Power and Plenty: Trade, War, and the World Economy in the Second Millennium" by Ronald Findlay and Kevin H. O'Rourke; 3. Government: "The History of Government" by S.E. Finer; 4. Ideas: "Ideas, a History from Fire to Freud", by Peter Watson; 5. Religion: "The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach" by Moojan Momen; and 6. War: "War in Human Civilization" by Azar Gat.