New Third Now Available! As humans we have the unique ability to construct and make sense of our lives and social interactions by the use of language. Language permits humans to engage in abstract thought, i.e., to generalize, distinguish, analyze and hypothesize. Without language, we would not have the ability to understand history. That is, we would not be able to access our development and our contributions throughout history. World History Dictionary: A Student Guide was designed with the student in mind. Beginning undergraduate students are typically unfamiliar with the history of western civilization or world history. This book provides them with a comprehensive but concise alphabetical list of events, people, processes and ideas bearing on the facts of what happened and, more importantly, why. When the definitions and explanations in this book are integrated into classroom lectures and discussions, the students are enabled to become active class participants and to critically analyze and interpret the course material.