World Civilizations: Volume II: Since 1500

Fifty-three concise chapters cover key points in manageable "chunks." This organization is ideal for professors who wish to augment lectures with outside material.

Historian's Craft boxes describe some of the methods and sources on which professional historians rely to illuminate the past. These include historical linguistics, archaeology, oral traditions, and written documents. Four new topics have been added in the eighth edition, covering problems of translation and interpretation of foreign-language evidence as well as the uses of critical textual analysis, genomic evidence, and historical theory.

Thematic "framing history" features are keyed to five broad text themes: Society and Economy, Law and Government, Patterns of Belief, Science and Technology, and Arts and Culture. All chapters have one or more boxes based on these themes; some are based on biography while others are based on primary sources.

Two additional features, Evidence of the Past and Images of History, spotlight artifacts and material culture. These and all other text features include a set of critical thinking questions.

Unit introductions and unit-opening Worldview maps highlight the major civilizations discussed in each part of the text. The end of each unit features rich pedagogical material including a Putting It All Together review section, a Cross-Cultural Connections feature, and a comprehensive Worldview chart that compares important themes and events across civilizations, encouraging students to think beyond regional borders.

Color illustrations, many of them new, and abundant maps throughout the text provide a rich visual context for the narrative discussions.

For the first time, WORLD CIVILIZATIONS is available in MindTap®, an online learning experience that guides students through the course by combining the complete textbook with interactive multimedia, a variety of new chapter and unit activities, and study tools that assist instructors in keeping students engaged with the material.

The Historian's Craft, a favorite feature of instructors and students alike, makes a more frequent appearance in the new edition. The variety of new topics includes the use of genomics to reconstruct human global migrations, problems of translation and interpretation of foreign-language evidence, and the role of historical theory.

Many new "framing history" features cover a wide range of themes, including Society and Economy, Law and Government, Patterns of Belief, Science and Technology, and Arts and Culture. For example, three new Society and Economy features -- on Women's Power Behind the Throne: The Example of Roxelana, Witchcraft, and Women's Voices in Nineteenth-Century Latin America -- reflect this edition's sharper focus on the importance of women in history. Two of the new Science and Technology features discuss Albert Einstein and Science in the Service of Intelligence.

Each chapter now opens with a thought-provoking image and caption that is intended to provide students with an immediate insight into the chapter's contents and to raise questions in their minds as they begin their reading.