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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 life of UsA[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.

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.

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.

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.