A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WORLD

Professor Stearns starts this series of 36 lectures by discussing the development of world history as a discipline, then moves from the Neolithic Age to the present, and sketches of what he believes comes next. Along the way, he shifts approaches, alternating discussions of key concepts, like the definition of a civilization, with lectures on individual nations or movements. Stearns incorporates the scholarly debates in the field. Indeed, he works so hard to be fair to all views that it becomes a weakness: at times, he focuses too much on process and multiple points of view. That said, his delivery is always clear, he knows and loves his material, and he knows how to pace complex material for easy comprehension. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2008]