Worlds of History: A Comparative Reader, Volume One: To 1550

by Kevin Reilly

Assembled by award-winning community college teacher and distinguished world historian Kevin Reilly, the documents in the best-selling Worlds of History bring history alive for students. Students read... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312402015
• ISBN13: 9780312402013
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Bedford Books
• Length: 525 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Satisfied

I needed a World History text for comparative studies in a course to create lectures and presentations. This book is a wealth of information and Fernandez-Armesto's view of world/human history creates a vibrant viewpoint from which to learn through.

Excellent resource for teachers and lovers of history

I use this book in teaching Ancient World history, and I find it has two good qualities that make it very useful. First, Reilly has selected an appropriate array of primary texts from the classical and pre-modern world. Some of them are the usual suspects: selections from Hammurabi's Code, the famous Egyptian scribe's justification of his profession, Pericles' funeral oration, Ibn Battuta, Confucius, the Bhagavad Gita, and so on. In several cases, though, he has paired similar texts or texts dealing with one event from different angles, which allows students to explore the challenges of doing history. For example, he provides a selection from the Analects and then a portion of Ban Zhao's essay on women; he gives us Raymond's account of his conquest of Jerusalem, and then that of an Arab historian. Second, analytical essays on the String Revolution, Rome and Han China compared, and so on, really give good perspective on themes and problems in the study of the ancient world. Not every selection will be useful for every class or of interest to every reader - and I can't imagine teaching from this book alone - but it's a very good resource nevertheless.

good book

lots of short essays, interesting stuff...biased viewpoint..its great! be sure to check out hammurabis code