[This is] a source collection that traces the course of human history from the rise of the earliest civilizations to the present. [This book] follows the evolution of cultures that most significantly influenced the history of the world from around 3500 B.C.E. to 1700 C.E., with emphasis on the development of the major social, religious, intellectual, and political traditions of the societies that flourished in Eurasia and Africa.-Pref.
'The Human Record' is the leading primary source reader for the world history course, providing balanced coverage of the global past. Each volume contains a blend of visual and textual sources which are often paired or grouped together for comparison.
This volume honours the contributions Claudia Goldin has made to scholarship and teaching in economic history and labour economics. The chapters address some closely integrated issues: the role of human capital in the long-term development of the American economy, trends in fertility and marriage, and women's participation in economic change.
The Human Fossil Record Volume one Terminology and Craniodental Morphology of Genus Homo (Europe) Jeffrey H. Schwartz Ian Tattersall The Human Fossil Record series is the most authoritative and comprehensive documentation of the fossil evidence relevant to the study of our evolutionary past. This first volume covers the craniodental remains from Europe that have been attributed to the genus Homo. Here the authors also clearly define the terminology and descriptive protocol that is applied uniformly throughout the series. Organized alphabetically by site name, each entry includes clear descriptions and original, expertly taken photographs, as well as: Morphology Location information History of discovery Previous systematic assessments of the fossils Geological, archaeological, and faunal contexts Dating References to the primary literature The Human Fossil Record series is truly a must-have reference for anyone seriously interested in the study of human evolution.
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
A group biography of seven enduring and beloved games, and the story of why—and how—we play them. Checkers, backgammon, chess, and Go. Poker, Scrabble, and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules, and the ways their design makes them pleasurable. Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across forty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism”; and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon program so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt, the Indian origins of chess, how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones. Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits, and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself. Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programs better than any human player, and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating, and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history, and how play makes us human.
The Human Fossil Record Volume one Terminology and Craniodental Morphology of Genus Homo (Europe) Jeffrey H. Schwartz Ian Tattersall The Human Fossil Record series is the most authoritative and comprehensive documentation of the fossil evidence relevant to the study of our evolutionary past. This first volume covers the craniodental remains from Europe that have been attributed to the genus Homo. Here the authors also clearly define the terminology and descriptive protocol that is applied uniformly throughout the series. Organized alphabetically by site name, each entry includes clear descriptions and original, expertly taken photographs, as well as: Morphology Location information History of discovery Previous systematic assessments of the fossils Geological, archaeological, and faunal contexts Dating References to the primary literature The Human Fossil Record series is truly a must-have reference for anyone seriously interested in the study of human evolution.
