In this panorama of world history from 4004 BC to AD 29, you will explore creation, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, and the rise of civilizations from Mesopotamia to Rome. You will see God's purposes worked out through His chosen people, Israel, culminating in the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
A bold reassessment of what caused the Late Bronze Age collapse In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen? In this major new account of the causes of this "First Dark Ages," Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries. A compelling combination of narrative and the latest scholarship, 1177 B.C. sheds new light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and ultimately destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age—and that set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece.
"The story of literature in sixteen acts, from Alexander the Great and the Iliad to ebooks and Harry Potter, this engaging book brings together remarkable people and surprising events to show how writing shaped cultures, religions, and the history of the world"--
China boasts a recorded history that dates back more than 3,500 years, and the Chinese have endowed the rest of the world with an enduring legacy. China examines the turbulent history of this immense nation, including the inventiveness of the Bronze Age society, the Barbarian invasions, the conquest by Genghis Khan, the rise and fall of the dynasties, and the Opium Wars. It takes in the architecture of the emperors; the magnificent buildings of the Forbidden City; the imperial tombs, and the mysterious entombed warriors. It also surveys Chinese culture and social history, including the rise of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and the cult of ancestor worship.
"Who were the first humans to inhabit North America? According to the now familiar story, mammal hunters entered the continent some 12,000 years ago via a land bridge that spanned the Bering Sea and introduced the distinctive stone tools of the Clovis culture. Drawing from original archaeological analysis, paleoclimatic research, and genetic studies, noted archaeologists Dennis J. Stanford and Bruce A. Bradley challenge that narrative. Their hypothesis places the technological antecedents of Clovis technology in Europe, with the culture of Solutrean people in France and Spain more than 20,000 years ago, and posits that the first Americans crossed the Atlantic by boat and arrived earlier than previously thought."--Back cover.
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the origins of the state, democracy, and inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation. For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike—either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself. Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume. The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action. Includes Black-and-White Illustrations
Unearthing the scientific evidence, myths, and legends of ancient civilization! The reminders of the Ancients are everywhere. They are saved in remnants in archaeology. They are found in reminiscences in mythology. They are recorded in books, story, song, and stone. Who were these people, aliens, man-or-myths? Do we still see their influences today? What remains of these inhabitants of the jungles, lost cities, and dwellings underground, underwater and beyond? How did they rise? Why did they fall? Will they rise again? From pyramids and underground bunkers to watery graves and ancient astronauts, Lost Civilizations: The Secret Histories and Suppressed Technologies of the Ancients examines the archaeological evidence and the traces left behind by more than 70 ancient civilizations, including ... Atlantis Göbekli Tepe Anasazi disappearance in the American Southwest Nazca Lines of Peru Turkey's Çatalhöyük Denisovan Ancestors departure Amazon Cities in the Jungle Neanderthal Ancestors extinction The Eden Stories of Theoretical Physics Underground Cities of the Grand Canyon And many more! From ancient Egypt, middle America, and the Nubian Desert to the frozen Antarctica, underwater ruins of Asia, and clues of visits by ancient aliens, Lost Civilizations explores the unanswered questions about the true origins of man. Might there have been advanced civilizations long before the days of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia? What do 3D imaging and new underwater mapping technology reveal? What do prehistoric artifacts, architecture, carvings, maps, and monoliths tell us? Were rising waters, erupting volcanoes, catastrophic solar flares, comet or asteroid fragments or some other unimaginable cataclysmic disasters the death of these advanced civilizations? Touring the world and reviewing the scientific evidence, this fascinating book ties together historical events in one part of the world that produced actual effects in others. Uncovering hidden and suppressed pasts of technologically and culturally advanced ancient civilizations, it looks at how modern civilization compares and contrasts to those who have gone before. It will leave you with the sense that what has happened to past advanced civilizations might very well be happening again in our own time! With more than 120 photos and graphics, it is richly illustrated. Its helpful bibliography and extensive index add to its usefulness.
Annotation World History: Cultures, States, and Societies to 1500 offers a comprehensive introduction to the history of humankind from prehistory to 1500. Authored by six USG faculty members with advance degrees in History, this textbook offers up-to-date original scholarship. It covers such cultures, states, and societies as Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Israel, Dynastic Egypt, India's Classical Age, the Dynasties of China, Archaic Greece, the Roman Empire, Islam, Medieval Africa, the Americas, and the Khanates of Central Asia. It includes 350 high-quality images and maps, chronologies, and learning questions to help guide student learning. Its digital nature allows students to follow links to applicable sources and videos, expanding their educational experience beyond the textbook. It provides a new and free alternative to traditional textbooks, making World History an invaluable resource in our modern age of technology and advancement.
Investigates and questions the scientific consensus on the origins of civilization Do we, the human species, really know who we are or where we came from or how we originated or our place in the cosmos? Or is much of what we have been taught wrong or misguided or possibly even blatant lies intended to keep people in power and everyone else in line? Exploring alternative theories on the establishment of society and civilization, Hidden History: Ancient Aliens and the Suppressed Origins of Civilization looks at a variety of dissenting, suppressed, and forbidden accounts of history and the origins of humanity. It takes a broad and inclusive survey of historical documents, various theories, and a wide array of perspectives to explore what conventional wisdom might have gotten right and wrong. The book serves as a useful introduction into the suppressed accounts of the origins of modern civilization. It combines cutting-edge science with metaphysical, spiritual, and even paranormal views, daring to ask whether there might be a better explanation for humanity’s existence and the origins of civilization than the current scientific consensus. Hidden History looks at the multiverse and parallel dimensions, the ancient alien theory, metaphysics, and hypotheses beyond physical perception, the eleven dimensions of string theory, radio telescopes that penetrate to the event horizon of our universe, mathematical equations that take us where no one has gone before, and the world-wide sharing of experiences old and new that speak of long forgotten ancient mythologies that reveal historical truths. With more than 120 photos and graphics, this tome is richly illustrated. Its helpful bibliography provides sources for further exploration, and an extensive index adds to its usefulness. This fascinating book is a thorough investigation and examination of the mysteries surrounding early civilizations, their myths, legends, histories, monuments—and lasting legacies.