Comments on the Table of Contents

The attached table of contents signals that:

• • · The text is drafted – but I intend to continue polishing the text through 2018. 32 chapters averaging a little over 15,000 words are envisioned. [But these numbers can be adjusted.]

    • · Many chapters are able to focus on (the influences on, characteristics of, and effects of) one historical transformation, notably 3, 4, 8, 11, 12, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 29, and 30. Several other chapters group together a handful of such episodes: 5, 6, 13, 15, 18, 23, 25, and 27. Yet the book nevertheless addresses each theme for each time period.

    • · There is nevertheless a clear chronological progression through the text.

    • · An explicitly comparative approach is taken throughout. Discussions of particular states or regions are always preceded and/or followed by comparative analyses. See for example chapters 6-7 and 9-10. A broad geographical coverage is pursued throughout.

    • · There is thus a very balanced coverage of both regions and themes throughout the book. Economy, art, and climate are among the phenomena that receive a bit more attention in this text than most others.

    • · I provide links to the Tables, Boxes, and Diagrams drafted. These are distributed fairly evenly through the entire book. I also provide a list of treatments of Primary Documents: There are excerpts from one or more primary documents in each of chapters 6-31. I will add more Primary Documents.

    • · The Introductory and Concluding chapters will add valuable material for many instructors and students but can be omitted by instructors wishing to focus exclusively on the historical narrative. It should be stressed that the concluding chapter is humble in tone: The reader is guided to ask their own questions and draw their own lessons.

    • Questions and Suggested Readings are provided at the end of each chapter. Questions are designed to reinforce material but also guide the student to extend the chapter’s analysis while practicing the Skill Acquisition listed elsewhere. For example, students are asked to draw diagrams of several historical processes.