List of Maps viii
Preface to the Sixth Edition xi
Book 1 Before History
Introduction 1
1. The Foundations 3
2. Homo Sapiens 18
3. The Possibility of Civilization 30
Book 2 Civilizations
Introduction 41
1. Early Civilized Life 43
2. Ancient Mesopotamia 51
3. Ancient Egypt 68
4. Intruders and Invaders 88
5. The Beginnings of Civilization in South Asia 112
6. Ancient China 125
7. The Other Worlds of the Ancient Past 144
8. Transformations 154
Book 3 The Classical Age
Introduction 161
1. Remaking the Old World 163
2. The Greeks 167
3. The Hellenistic World 201
4. Rome 215
5. Christianity and the Western Transition 246
6. Classical India 300
7. Classical China 311
Book 4 The Age of Diverging Traditions
Introduction 325
1. The Central Eurasian Crossroads 327
2. Islam and the Arab Empires 333
3. Byzantium and Its Sphere 357
4. The New Middle East and the Making of Europe 384
5. India 430
6. Imperial China 437
7. Japan 458
8. Worlds Apart 469
9. Europe: The Possibility of Change 482
10. New Limits, New Horizons 513
Book 5 The Making of the European Age
Introduction 535
1. Qing China and Mughal India 537
2. A New Kind of Society: Early Modern Europe 551
3. Authority and Its Challengers in Europe 573
4. The New World of Great Powers 601
5. Europe's Assault on the World 633
6. World History's New Shape 661
7. Ideas Old and New 678
Book 6 The Great Acceleration
Introduction 701
1. Long-term Change 703
2. Political Change in an Age of Revolution 723
3. Political Change: A New Europe 748
4. Political Change: The Anglo-Saxon World 770
5. The European World Hegemony 791
6. Imperialism and Imperial Rule 815
7. Asian Metamorphoses 833
Book 7 The End of the European Age
Introduction 861
1. Strains in the System 863
2. The Era of the First World War 882
3. The Making of a New Asia 914
4. The Ottoman Heritage and the Western Islamic Lands 931
5. The Second World War 944
6. Decolonization and Cold War 967
Book 8 Our Own Time
Introduction 991
1. Revolutions in Science and Perceptions 995
2. The Cold War World 1035
3. Crises and Détente 1088
4. The Closing of an Era 1122
5. Openings and Closures 1144
6. Whole World History 1176
Index 1189