The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History

by Richard W. Bulliet, Pamela K. Crossley, Nancy Blaine

This text provides a truly global approach to the world history survey. Its fundamental theme—the interaction of human beings and the environment—serves as a point of comparison for different times, places, and societies. Special emphasis is given to technology and how technological development underlies all human activity.

The Third Edition combines strong scholarship and pedagogy to uphold the book's reputation for rigor and accessibility. Several features, such as detailed maps, images, and timelines, help students build their geography and comparative analysis skills.

Illustrated "Environment and Technology" boxes reinforce the central theme of the text by highlighting and comparing technological developments over time. "Diversity and Dominance" boxes highlight primary sources of substantial length; Chapters 1, 12, and 23 feature visual sources. Students are invited to explore the meaning and significance of each passage or image through a series of focus questions.

Genres: History, World History, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Read For School, School, Reference

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Richard W. Bulliet is a professor emeritus of history at Columbia University who specializes in the history of Islamic society and institutions, the history of technology, and the history of the role of animals in human society.

Richard grew up in Illinois. He attended Harvard University, from which he received a BA in 1962 and a PhD in 1967.

Several of his books focus on Iran but deal also with the larger Muslim world, including The Patricians of Nishapur: a Study in Medieval Islamic History (1972), Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative History (1979), and Islam: the View from the Edge (1994). His books on a broader view of Islamic history and society include Under Siege: Islam and Democracy (1994) and The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization (2004). His book (1975) brings together his interest in the histories of technology, animal domestication, and the Middle East, dealing for example with the significant military advantage early Muslim armies gained from a slight improvement in the design of cloth camel saddles. He would return to the history of animal domestication with his Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers: The Past and Future of Human-Animal Relationships (2005).

He is the writer and editor of books of more general interest as well, including The Columbia History of the Twentieth Century (editor, 1998), The Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East (co-editor, 1996), and The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History (co-author, 1997). He has also written several novels which draw on his knowledge of international politics and the Middle East, and is a promoter of the validity of comics as an art form.

His first fiction book, Kicked to Death by a Camel (1973), was nominated for an Edgar for “Best First Mystery”. His other fiction includes Tomb of the Twelfth Imam (1979), The Gulf Scenario (1984), The Sufi Fiddle (1991), and The One-Donkey Solution (2011).

Bulliet’s commentaries and opinion pieces on the Middle East have appeared in such newspapers The Guardian, New York Times International, and Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Reviews

[Vincenita Holattabaloney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like most historic works, it made me cry...
but not because it was so emotionally moving, oh no... I spent hours upon hours hunched over this crazily-detailed textbook on 10,000 YEARS OF WORLD HISTORY solely because I made the grave mistake of taking AP World History.

In case you're wondering, I actually read ALL 33 chapters, as did all WHAP students, and it took all of my will-power to not burn this book once the final was over...as my copy belonged to the school...
Not only did we have to read this brick-with-words, but we did debates on it, powerpoints, presentations, posters, and more on it, which required us to reread passages...as if it wasn't painful the first time around...but needless to say, this was a real tear-jerker

If any of you guys are taking AP World next year,0/10, would not recommend.

But some of you like a challenge and will take AP World anyways, and you know what? that's okay...at least you can be that annoying friend who makes history references all the time that no one else gets. Historical fiction will also make a little more sense now...and you'll now know the answers to half of the questions on "Jeopardy!"...

Happy reading!!! *insert sarcastic laugh*

[Vysloczil · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a high-school book written by eminent historians. As compared to many other works, it covers all areas of the world through all relevant time periods. I often use it as a quick reference, and it is a good addition to any bookshelf that holds lots of (economic) history. Of course, it lacks depth on specific topics, but the authors refer to relevant texts on the research frontier and point out weaknesses and future avenues for historians.

It is a good balance for someone who is mostly exposed to economic history written by economic historians. It can be viewed as a good complement to eminent texts like Rondo Cameron's "A Concise Economic History of the World."

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest my rating for this is kind of meaningless because I read it as a textbook for a class. I just wanted to document that I read it because for the first time ever I read the entire textbook.

[Ana Lucia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose this is my first finished book of 2022 for a reason. There are so many irrelevant parts in each chapter, so I don't recommend reading it thoroughly.

Ch. 12 and 13 were the best though :)

[elise rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book. ❤️

[Savannah Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

technically I'm not finished reading this but I've done the last of the assigned reading so here we are

[Lea]

help

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly dense and thorough...it is CERTAINLY informative. However, it's also a very dry read, and comes complete with an incredibly dry sense of design, layout and style. Guaranteed to put any AP History student to sleep, in spite of its brilliant text content.

[JR Snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to lectures on apple podcasts. Better as a historiography course on world history than lectures on the subject. The book seems to be well laid out, obsession with globalism and national equal opportunity aside. :-)

[Dianna Thiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a high school AP text book. Gives a good general overall view of human history.

[Daniel Gabrielsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Might be regarded as dry by some, although if all you want is a no nonsense survey of the human history that is well illustrated and organised it is one of the better options.

[Claudia · Rating 1 out of 5]

No hard feelings towards the author I just rated this out of rage for my AP world history class

[jules · Rating 1 out of 5]

i hate school

[Robyn]

My tears forever stain the pages of this book.

[Angela Kang · Rating 2 out of 5]

well technically, I finished this textbook in the middle of May, before taking the World History AP test.
This textbook was pretty difficult for me to get through.
Sure, a lot of interesting extra cultural/technical information. But it was hard to get through (of course) and the organization was really not the best.
However, contrary to a lot of what the other students thought, it did help me in grasping the small things of the big ideas, in the end.

[Carinna Tarvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, it's my job. But I AM spending a lot of time reading this sucker when I wish I was reading other books, and I AM going to finish it this year and feel super triumphant. I want it to be a part of my 2014 reading challenge! It counts!

PS- it's a lot more enjoyable to read than the Stearns AP World History book I had to read the last two years. Mostly clear. Not terribly interesting, but it doesn't make me hate history like the other one did.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the textbook we used for the class I was a teaching assistant for this semester--I really enjoyed this. The layout is nice, the writing is clear, and it reinforced the themes of our class well. While this isn't the edition we used (the 2010 edition isn't up on Goodreads yet)...I would recommend this textbook to anyone looking for a good overview of world history.

[Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uber boring! I fell asleep at least five times while reading it.....In short: what I learned from this book was...WAY TOO MUCH!


My head couldn't take it. Good luck Freshmen! :P

[Sierra · Rating 2 out of 5]

history book

[Stephanie reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

even though i didnt read the entire thing i think this book taught me alot!!

[Kristine Chambers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. What can you say about a textbook? I definitely learned a lot.

[Robyn Philactos · Rating 1 out of 5]

this was the most boring history book i've ever read. it has good information for an AP class, but it did not give enough details ; it mostly gave overviews of historical events.

[Marisa Landsverk · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Aaron Gamino · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book was ok not realy a good book

[Timothy]

I am using the third edition as the text-book for my AP World history class.

[mahfuza]

I tried scanning my history book and it worked I didn't expect that

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I literally read the history of the world in my AP World class with this textbook. Read it front to back and have learned a lot.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Textbook used for my AP world history class. Read all chapters, cover to cover. Section reviews at the end of each section were life saving when I had to read one chapter a week.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

BORING. I fell asleep so many times. Has decent information, but really boring.

[Brian Le · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love this book as much as I love WHAP
god bless