As in the past, the book is organized in chapters that carry the narrative across specific chronological eras, moving steadily toward the present. Yet the clearly defined and numbered sections within each chapter often deal with themes, events, or issues that do not develop in simple chronological order. Each chapter focuses on a specific time frame but also on themes and problems of continuing historical importance. The chronological organization gives readers a broad historical framework and also provides opportunities for further analysis and discussion of specific historical themes or problems—discussions that can draw, for example, on other materials which can be found on the companion Online Learning Center Web site (Www. mhhe. com/palmerlO), which now includes an Interactive Glossary.
Although the history of political institutions, revolutions, and international conflicts remains important in this new edition, some details of national and political history have been reduced to expand the discussion of social, cultural, and intellectual history—all of which have been influential in recent historical scholarship. There are sections on the role of women in various historical contexts and eras; descriptions of cultural and intellectual movements from the early modern to the contemporary period; and new analyses of the political, economic, and cultural interactions that have shaped modem global history. Chapters on the Scientific Revolution and the early global economy have been moved in order to show more clearly the chronological relation of notable cultural and economic developments.
In the earlier chapters readers will find discussions of family life during the Renaissance and Reformation; descriptions of literary debates, salon culture, and the evolving public sphere in the Enlightenment; and insights into the cultural dimensions of the French Revolution. Later chapters of the book (in the second volume of the paperback edition) include sections on the emergence of feminism, cultural debates about science and the idea of progress, and discussions of modernist and postmodernist cultural movements.
The chapters on the world since 1945 have been reorganized and divided into new thematic sections. The two longest chapters in the previous edition’s narrative of recent historical events have been divided into four new, more concise chapters that will be easier for students and others to read. The new, shorter chapters have a clearer thematic organization, and they convey key patterns in the development of postcolonial societies in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as the demise of communism in Europe. These reorganized chapters also include new information on recent international confrontations and on the growing globalization of contemporary economic and cultural life. We believe that specific historical information about such developments is the essential starting point for historical analysis, balanced historical insights, and the comprehension of historical change.
Our intention is to help students and other readers understand the complexities of great events such as the religious wars of earlier centuries, the American, French, and Russian Revolutions, the twentieth-century world wars, the spread of democracy and the challenges it has faced, the creation and collapse of the Western-dominated colonial empires, the emergence of new, postcolonial nation-states, and the continuing search for an international order. Readers will also find updated information on current issues such as terrorism, recent upheavals in the Middle East, and the continuing struggle for economic development in the world’s poorest countries.
Other revisions have been introduced to make the book even more accessible for a new generation of readers. The visual component has again been extended through the addition of new illustrations, including new images of important works by modem artists such as Pablo Picasso, Berthe Morisot, Jackson Pollock, and Henry Moore. Like other kinds of documents and sources, the images and artwork from past cultures provide important historical information. Knowing how to read and critically evaluate an illustration, painting, or photograph is an essential form of analytical thought and is invaluable for cross-cultural comparisons. In addition to the many illustrations in each chapter, four-color inserts convey both the artistic creativity and the cultural or social preoccupations of different historical eras. The brief captions that accompany all of the illustrations connect events or issues to the book’s narrative.
Other key features of this new edition include newly drawn, easler-to-read maps, presented in sharper color. The wide range of maps and charts shows the changing boundaries, populations, and economies of nations and regions over the years. In addition to the revised maps, new chronological timelines—as suggested by reviewers—have been incorporated into each chapter to give a convenient summary of the notable events and dates in each historical era. The revised, up-to-date entries for the comprehensive Suggestions for Further Reading, long a valued feature of the book, include new listings of useful Web sites as well as the titles of significant new scholarly publications.
The changes in this latest version of A History of the Modern World have been introduced to enhance the book’s accessibility, but not to replace or weaken the style, content, narrative, and analytical qualities that have appealed to teachers and students over the years. More generally, readers will find that the book in its newest edition expresses again a strong belief in the value of historical knowledge and historical perspectives for anyone who wishes to understand as well as to live in the evolving modem world. It achieves its purpose whenever it helps readers of any age or background gain new perspectives on themselves and their world through the new knowledge or new insights that it may offer.
World History
