Bulliet/Crossley/Headrick/Hirsch/Johnson/Northrup's THE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLES: A GLOBAL HISTORY, 8th EDITION, presents world history in a balanced, global framework, shifting the focus away from political centers of power and toward the living conditions and activities of ordinary people. This truly global world history book employs a fundamental theme -- the interaction of human beings and the environment -- to compare different times, places and societies. Special emphasis is given to technology (in its broadest sense) and how technological development underlies all human activity. A new feature called "Daily Life" in each chapter is designed to help students see connections between their everyday experiences and the customs and technologies of the past.

Bulliet/Crossley/Headrick/Hirsch/Johnson/Northrup's THE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLES: A GLOBAL HISTORY, 8th EDITION, presents world history in a balanced, global framework, shifting the focus away from political centers of power and toward the living conditions and activities of ordinary people. This truly global world history book employs a fundamental theme -- the interaction of human beings and the environment -- to compare different times, places and societies. Special emphasis is given to technology (in its broadest sense) and how technological development underlies all human activity. A new feature called "Daily Life" in each chapter is designed to help students see connections between their everyday experiences and the customs and technologies of the past.

Featuring a beautiful new design, THE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLES, Sixth Edition, presents world history in a balanced, global framework, shifting the focus away from political centers of power. This truly global text for the world history survey course employs fundamental themes of "environment and technology" and "diversity and dominance" to explore patterns of humans' interactions with their surroundings and with each other. The authors' approach reveals how humanity continues to shape and be shaped by the environment and how dominant structures and traditions are balanced and challenged by alternate beliefs. Special emphasis is given to technological development and how it underlies all human activity. Highly acclaimed in their fields of study, the authors bring a wide array of expertise to the program. A combination of strong scholarship and detailed pedagogy gives the book its reputation for rigor and student accessibility.

Featuring a beautiful new design, THE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLES, 7th Edition, presents world history in a balanced, global framework, shifting the focus away from political centers of power and toward the living conditions and activities of ordinary people. This truly global world history book employs a fundamental theme -- the interaction of human beings and the environment -- to compare different times, places, and societies. Special emphasis is given to technology (in its broadest sense) and how technological development underlies all human activity.

Conventional wisdom maintains that the differences between Islam and Christianity are irreconcilable. Pre-eminent Middle East scholar Richard W. Bulliet disagrees, and in this fresh, provocative book he looks beneath the rhetoric of hatred and misunderstanding to challenge prevailing -- and misleading -- views of Islamic history and a "clash of civilizations." These sibling societies begin at the same time, go through the same developmental stages, and confront the same internal challenges. Yet as Christianity grows rich and powerful and less central to everyday life, Islam finds success around the globe but falls behind in wealth and power.

Modernization in the nineteenth century brings in secular forces that marginalize religion in political and public life. In the Christian world, this simply furthers a process that had already begun. In the Middle East this gives rise to the tyrannical governments that continue to dominate. Bulliet argues that beginning in the 1950s American policymakers misread the Muslim world and, instead of focusing on the growing discontent against the unpopular governments, saw only a forum for liberal, democratic reforms within those governments. By fostering slogans like "clash of civilizations" and "what went wrong," Americans to this day continue to misread the Muslim world and to miss the opportunity to focus on common ground for building lasting peace. This book offers a fresh perspective on U.S.-Muslim relations and provides the intellectual groundwork upon which to help build a peaceful and democratic future in the Muslim world.

Featuring a beautiful new design, THE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLES, 7th Edition, presents world history in a balanced, global framework, shifting the focus away from political centers of power and toward the living conditions and activities of ordinary people. This truly global world history book employs a fundamental theme -- the interaction of human beings and the environment -- to compare different times, places, and societies. Special emphasis is given to technology (in its broadest sense) and how technological development underlies all human activity.

A boom in the production and export of cotton made Iran the richest region of the Islamic caliphate in the ninth and tenth centuries. Yet in the eleventh century, Iran's impressive agricultural economy entered a steep decline, bringing the country's primacy to an end.

Richard W. Bulliet advances several provocative theses to explain these hitherto unrecognized historical events. According to Bulliet, the boom in cotton production directly paralleled the spread of Islam, and Iran's agricultural decline stemmed from a significant cooling of the climate that lasted for over a century. The latter phenomenon also prompted Turkish nomadic tribes to enter Iran for the first time, establishing a political dominance that would last for centuries.

Substantiating his argument with innovative quantitative research and recent scientific discoveries, Bulliet first establishes the relationship between Iran's cotton industry and Islam and then outlines the evidence for what he terms the "Big Chill." Turning to the story of the Turks, he focuses on the lucrative but temperature-sensitive industry of cross-breeding one-humped and two-humped camels. He concludes that this unusual concatenation of events had a profound and long-lasting impact not just on the history of Iran but on the development of world affairs in general.

The life of Us?mah ibn-Munqidh epitomizes the height of Arab civilization during the early Crusading period. These memoirs -- which represent a rare first-hand account of medieval European manners, morals, politics, and medicine written by a non-European -- offers new perspective and insight into an important point of military and cultural contact between the East and West. In his introduction, translator Philip Hitti writes, "Ancient Arabic literature has preserved for us other biographies, memoirs, and reminiscences by great men, but there is hardly anything superior to this one in its simplicity of narrative, dignity, and wealth of contents and general human interest.

A boom in the production and export of cotton made Iran the richest region of the Islamic caliphate in the ninth and tenth centuries. Yet in the eleventh century, Iran's impressive agricultural economy entered a steep decline, bringing the country's primacy to an end.

Richard W. Bulliet advances several provocative theses to explain these hitherto unrecognized historical events. According to Bulliet, the boom in cotton production directly paralleled the spread of Islam, and Iran's agricultural decline stemmed from a significant cooling of the climate that lasted for over a century. The latter phenomenon also prompted Turkish nomadic tribes to enter Iran for the first time, establishing a political dominance that would last for centuries.

Substantiating his argument with innovative quantitative research and recent scientific discoveries, Bulliet first establishes the relationship between Iran's cotton industry and Islam and then outlines the evidence for what he terms the "Big Chill." Turning to the story of the Turks, he focuses on the lucrative but temperature-sensitive industry of cross-breeding one-humped and two-humped camels. He concludes that this unusual concatenation of events had a profound and long-lasting impact not just on the history of Iran but on the development of world affairs in general.

Richard W. Bulliet has long been a leading figure in the study of human-animal relations, and in his newest work, "Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers," he offers a sweeping and engaging perspective on this dynamic relationship from prehistory to the present. By considering the shifting roles of donkeys, camels, cows, and other domesticated animals in human society, as well as their place in the social imagination, Bulliet reveals the different ways various cultures have reinforced, symbolized, and rationalized their relations with animals.

Bulliet identifies and explores four stages in the history of the human-animal relationship-separation, predomesticity, domesticity, and postdomesticity. He begins with the question of when and why humans began to consider themselves distinct from other species and continues with a fresh look at how a few species became domesticated. He demonstrates that during the domestic era many species fell from being admired and even worshipped to being little more than raw materials for various animal-product industries. Throughout the work, Bulliet discusses how social and technological developments and changing philosophical, religious, and aesthetic viewpoints have shaped attitudes toward animals.

Our relationship to animals continues to evolve in the twenty-first century. Bulliet writes, "We are today living through a new watershed in human-animal relations, one that appears likely to affect our material, social, and imaginative lives as profoundly as did the original emergence of domestic species." The United States, Britain, and a few other countries are leading a move from domesticity, marked by nearly universal familiarity with domestic species, to an era of postdomesticity, in which dependence on animal products continues but most people have no contact with producing animals. Elective vegetarianism and the animal-liberation movement have combined with new attitudes toward animal science, pets, and the presentation of animals in popular culture to impart a distinctive moral, psychological, and spiritual tone to postdomestic life.

In the parade of highlights with which many have tried to sum up the twentieth century, the overarching patterns and fundamental transformations often fail to come into focus. The Columbia History of the 20th Century, however, is much more than a chronicle of the previous century's front-page news. Instead, the book is a series of twenty-three linked interpretive essays on the most significant developments in modern times--ranging from athletics to art, the economy to the environment.

Rather than presenting a linear narrative, each author uncovers patterns of worldwide change. James Mayall, for example, writes on nationalism from the rise of European fascism to the rise of Asian and African nations; Sheila Fitzpatrick traces the history of communism and socialism in Moscow and Havana. In her chapter on women and gender, Rosalind Rosenberg covers the progress of women's rights throughout the world, from Middle Eastern activism to the American feminist movement. Jean-Marc Ran Oppenheim's history of sports traces the spread of Western sports to all corners of the globe and the West's appropriation of such activities as martial arts. In each, the important strands of history--events, ideas, leading figures, issues--come together to offer an illuminating look at cultural connection, diffusion, and conflict, showing in stark relief how this period has been unlike any preceding era of human history.

Readable and concise, this brief edition provides the essential narrative of world history in an abbreviated format. This global text employs the fundamental themes of 'environment and technology' and 'diversity and dominance' to explore patterns of humans' interactions with their surroundings and with each other. The authors' approach shifts the focus away from political centers and power, revealing how humanity continues to shape and be shaped by our environments, and how dominant structures and traditions are balanced and challenged by alternate beliefs.

Featuring a beautiful new design, THE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLES, 7th Edition, presents world history in a balanced, global framework, shifting the focus away from political centers of power and toward the living conditions and activities of ordinary people. This truly global world history book employs a fundamental theme -- the interaction of human beings and the environment -- to compare different times, places, and societies. Special emphasis is given to technology (in its broadest sense) and how technological development underlies all human activity.

Bulliet abandons the historian's habit of viewing Islamic history "from the center," that is, focusing on the rise and fall of imperial dynasties. Instead, he derives an understanding of how and why Islam became -- and continues to be -- so rooted in the social structure of the vast majority of people who lived far from the political locus and did not see the caliphate as essential in their lives.

The first encyclopedia of Islamic political thought from the birth of Islam to today, this comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible reference provides the context needed for understanding contemporary politics in the Islamic world and beyond. With more than 400 alphabetically arranged entries written by an international team of specialists, the volume focuses on the origins and evolution of Islamic political ideas and related subjects, covering central terms, concepts, personalities, movements, places, and schools of thought across Islamic history. Fifteen major entries provide a synthetic treatment of key topics, such as Muhammad, jihad, authority, gender, culture, minorities, fundamentalism, and pluralism. Incorporating the latest scholarship, this is an indispensable resource for students, researchers, journalists, and anyone else seeking an informed perspective on the complex intersection of Islam and politics. * Includes more than 400 concise, alphabetically arranged entries * Features 15 in-depth entries on key topics * Covers topics such as: * Central themes and sources of Islamic political thought: caliph, modernity, knowledge, shari'a, government, revival and reform * Modern concepts, institutions, movements, and parties: civil society, Islamization, secularism, veil, Muslim Brotherhood * Islamic law and traditional Islamic societies: justice, taxation, fatwa, dissent, governance, piety and asceticism, trade and commerce * Sects, schools, regions, and dynasties: Mu'tazilis, Shi'ism, Quraysh, Mecca and Medina, Baghdad, Indonesia, Nigeria, Central Asia, Ottomans * Thinkers, personalities, and statesmen: Mawardi, Shafi'I, Saladin, Tamerlane, Akbar, Ataturk, Nasser, Khomeini * Contains seven historical and contemporary maps of Muslim empires, postcolonial nation-states, populations, and settlements * Guides readers to further research through bibliographies, cross-references, and an index

Conventional wisdom maintains that the differences between Islam and Christianity are irreconcilable. Pre-eminent Middle East scholar Richard W. Bulliet disagrees, and in this fresh, provocative book he looks beneath the rhetoric of hatred and misunderstanding to challenge prevailing -- and misleading -- views of Islamic history and a "clash of civilizations." These sibling societies begin at the same time, go through the same developmental stages, and confront the same internal challenges. Yet as Christianity grows rich and powerful and less central to everyday life, Islam finds success around the globe but falls behind in wealth and power.

Modernization in the nineteenth century brings in secular forces that marginalize religion in political and public life. In the Christian world, this simply furthers a process that had already begun. In the Middle East this gives rise to the tyrannical governments that continue to dominate. Bulliet argues that beginning in the 1950s American policymakers misread the Muslim world and, instead of focusing on the growing discontent against the unpopular governments, saw only a forum for liberal, democratic reforms within those governments. By fostering slogans like "clash of civilizations" and "what went wrong," Americans to this day continue to misread the Muslim world and to miss the opportunity to focus on common ground for building lasting peace. This book offers a fresh perspective on U.S.-Muslim relations and provides the intellectual groundwork upon which to help build a peaceful and democratic future in the Muslim world.

The End of Middle East History and Other Conjectures is an unapologetic collection of imaginative essays from thought-provoking Middle East scholar Richard W. Bulliet. Not your ordinary think pieces, this volume collects for the first time Bulliet's Big Bang-Big Crunch theory of Islamic history and his illuminating conception of the "Muslim South." Speculations range from future political events to counterfactual histories of how reversal of the outcome of a 1529 battle might have profoundly altered history. After fifty years of posing and answering daring historical questions, Bulliet happily tackles an array of conjectures on subjects as diverse as the origin of civilization, the end of Middle East history, and future interpretations of the twentieth century.

This concise revisionist account of the historical evolution of Islamic society goes beyond the caliph and the capital. The author abandons the historian's habit of viewing Islamic history "from the centre", that is, focusing on the rise and fall of imperial dynasties. Instead, he derives a more accurate understanding of how and why Islam became - and continues to be - so rooted in the social structure of the vast majority of people who lived far from the political centre and did not see the caliphate as essential in their lives. Focusing his research on Iran, and especially the cities of Isfahan, Gorgan and Nishapur, Bulliet considers: conversion; migration and demographic trends; education and its role in defining cultural norms; and the changing functions and fortunes of cities and urban life.

Richard W. Bulliet has long been a leading figure in the study of human-animal relations, and in his newest work, "Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers," he offers a sweeping and engaging perspective on this dynamic relationship from prehistory to the present. By considering the shifting roles of donkeys, camels, cows, and other domesticated animals in human society, as well as their place in the social imagination, Bulliet reveals the different ways various cultures have reinforced, symbolized, and rationalized their relations with animals.

Bulliet identifies and explores four stages in the history of the human-animal relationship-separation, predomesticity, domesticity, and postdomesticity. He begins with the question of when and why humans began to consider themselves distinct from other species and continues with a fresh look at how a few species became domesticated. He demonstrates that during the domestic era many species fell from being admired and even worshipped to being little more than raw materials for various animal-product industries. Throughout the work, Bulliet discusses how social and technological developments and changing philosophical, religious, and aesthetic viewpoints have shaped attitudes toward animals.

Our relationship to animals continues to evolve in the twenty-first century. Bulliet writes, "We are today living through a new watershed in human-animal relations, one that appears likely to affect our material, social, and imaginative lives as profoundly as did the original emergence of domestic species." The United States, Britain, and a few other countries are leading a move from domesticity, marked by nearly universal familiarity with domestic species, to an era of postdomesticity, in which dependence on animal products continues but most people have no contact with producing animals. Elective vegetarianism and the animal-liberation movement have combined with new attitudes toward animal science, pets, and the presentation of animals in popular culture to impart a distinctive moral, psychological, and spiritual tone to postdomestic life.

In the parade of highlights with which many have tried to sum up the twentieth century, the overarching patterns and fundamental transformations often fail to come into focus. The Columbia History of the 20th Century, however, is much more than a chronicle of the previous century's front-page news. Instead, the book is a series of twenty-three linked interpretive essays on the most significant developments in modern times--ranging from athletics to art, the economy to the environment.

Rather than presenting a linear narrative, each author uncovers patterns of worldwide change. James Mayall, for example, writes on nationalism from the rise of European fascism to the rise of Asian and African nations; Sheila Fitzpatrick traces the history of communism and socialism in Moscow and Havana. In her chapter on women and gender, Rosalind Rosenberg covers the progress of women's rights throughout the world, from Middle Eastern activism to the American feminist movement. Jean-Marc Ran Oppenheim's history of sports traces the spread of Western sports to all corners of the globe and the West's appropriation of such activities as martial arts. In each, the important strands of history--events, ideas, leading figures, issues--come together to offer an illuminating look at cultural connection, diffusion, and conflict, showing in stark relief how this period has been unlike any preceding era of human history.

Richard W. Bulliet is an innovative historian of the Islamic world. His contributions have changed the way scholars think about the history of medieval city life, animal domestication, wheeled transport, religious conversion, Islamic institutions, and relations between Islam and Christianity. His fifty-year career at Harvard, Berkeley, and Columbia coincided with the rise of Middle East Studies as an American academic enterprise and with his Columbia colleague Edward Said's book Orientalism, which set off a lasting debate over the value of Americans' and Europeans' studying non-Western cultures. In Methodists and Muslims, Bulliet has fashioned a critique of both Orientalism and Middle East Studies. His memoir also recounts how a young Methodist from Illinois made his way into the then-arcane field of Islamic Studies, became involved in shaping Middle East Studies, and developed relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, culminating in the controversial visit to New York City by President Ahmadinejad of Iran.

Why, for many centuries, was the wheel abandoned in the Middle East in favor of the camel as a means of transport? This richly illustrated study explains this anomaly. Drawing on archaeology, art, technology, anthropology, linguistics, and camel husbandry, Bulliet explores the implications for the region's economic and social development during the Middle Ages and into modern times.