[Ebook PDF] Worlds of History, Volume 2: A Comparative Reader, Since 1400, 6th Edition

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Worlds of History, Volume 2: A Comparative Reader, Since 1400, 6th Edition

ISBN-13: 978-1319042080
ISBN-10: 1319042082

Authors:  Kevin Reilly (Author)

Take a cross-cultural approach to central themes in history as Worlds of History, Volume 2 teaches you to think critically and view the past more effectively.

Preface
The college-level world history course is undergoing another transformation: the third since I first wrote about the subject for the American Historical Association in 1984.
1 The first two were the almost contemporaneous conceptual jump from Western history to world history and the inclusion of a vast array of new subject areas, especially in social and cultural history. The third, occurring now, is a trend toward engaging students with sources rather than solely with writings about those sources, “flipping” the course from lecture to discussion, and teaching historical thinking skills rather than merely transferring information. The purpose of this book is to satisfy the needs expressed in these three revolutions. The switch to world history from courses in “Western Civilization” that rarely
ventured over the Alps or the Pyrenees is an obvious need of students in the twenty-first century. So, too, is the addition of topics on gender, race, and class; migrations, trade, and encounters; religion, sexuality, and work; climate, ecology, and disease; and so many more fruits of contemporary scholarship, micro and global. Our title, Worlds of History, is a reflection of both these goals.
The need to teach students to think critically and independently, an often-unspoken goal of history education over the past several decades, is now receiving explicit formulation and vigorous advocacy in the efforts of institutions like the American Historical Association and the College Board to answer public unease about the value of college degrees in history and the other humanities. What are the thinking skills or “habits of mind” that we teach or can teach when we teach history? This book suggests answers to that question and prepares teachers to demonstrate them.
To engage students who are not only new to the college experience but new to reading source material as well, I have continued my efforts to provide accessible readings that pique their interest. This new edition aims to maintain that high level of reader interest with new selections, like an explanation from the fourteenth century College of Physicians in Paris for the causes of the Black Death and an image depicting Aztec education from the Codex Mendoza. As in previous editions, I have also included secondary as well as primary texts. In some chapters the secondary text introduces an issue that the primary sources then address, while at other times the secondary source offers a summary or suggestions for new directions. My aim in combining these two types of sources is for students to learn how texts, whether primary or secondary, talk to each other — and without having to buy separate books of each.
As a framework, I’ve used a thematic and topical organization that also proceeds chronologically, with each chapter focusing on a captivating topic within a particular time period. I have long found a comparative approach to be a useful tool for approaching world history, and for this sixth edition, I have continued to use this tool, examining two or more cultures at a time. In some chapters students can trace parallel developments in separate regions, such as the development of society in ancient Greece and India in Chapter 3, or the advent of nationalism in Japan and India in Chapter 23. In other cases, students can examine the enduring effects of contact and exchange between cultures, as in the chapter on Mongol and Viking raiding and settlements from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries, or Volume 2’s chapter on the scientific revolution in Europe, the Ottoman Empire, China, Japan, and the Americas. Even the normally bipolar study of the Cold War can be expanded, as documents in Chapter 26 relating to the superpowers’ fight to control the emerging “Third World” show.
I continue to include a wealth of pedagogical tools to help students unlock the readings and hone their critical thinking skills. Each chapter begins with a “Historical Context” introduction that sets the stage for directed comparisons among the chapter’s readings. A “Thinking Historically” section follows, which introduces a particular critical thinking skill — such as asking about author, audience, and agenda or distinguishing causes of change — that is designed to mine the chapter’s selections. Introductions preceding each selection provide additional context, while document specific “Thinking Historically” content poses questions to encourage close analysis of the selections using the critical thinking skill introduced at the beginning of the chapter. Explanatory gloss notes and pronunciation guides throughout help ensure comprehension of the readings. A set of “Reflections” that both summarizes and extends the chapter’s lessons concludes each chapter.