World History in Brief: Major Patterns of Change and Continuity, Volume I: To 1450

peter n. stearns patrick j. geary

With its brief, global (rather than West-centered) approach, World History in Brief, Sixth Edition, seeks to show how different civilizations developed in a global context.
Rather than overwhelm students, the chief goal of World History in Brief is to present the big picture, to facilitate comparison and assessment of change, and to highlight the major developments in the world's history. This text also emphasizes the global interactions of major civilizations so that students can compare and assess changes in the patterns of interaction and the impact of global forces such as migration and technology exchange. The compact size of this text gives instructors the opportunity to take advantage of additional supplementary readings.

Genres history

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 28,2004

This edition

Format: 304 pages, Paperback
Published: November 5, 2006 by Longman
ISBN: 9780321488329
ASIN: 0321488326
Language: English

About the author

peter n. stearns

Peter Nathaniel Stearns is a professor at George Mason University, where he was provost from January 1, 2000 to July 2014.
Stearns was chair of the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University and also served as the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (now named Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences) at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, he founded and edited the Journal of Social History. While at Carnegie Mellon, he developed a pioneering approach to teaching World History, and has contributed to the field as well through editing, and contributing to, the Routledge series, Themes in World History. He is also known for various work on the nature and impact of the industrial revolution and for exploration of new topics, particularly in the history of emotions.
He is active in historical groups such as the American Historical Association, the Society for French Historical Studies, the Social Science History Association and the International Society for Research on Emotion.