I just received a examination copy of Felipe Fernandez-Armesto’s massive world history text. The World: A History it is one of the newest entries into the growing genre of world history textbooks (It was actually published in 2008, but what I received was the new 2nd edition). Since the addition of the AP World History course into high schools in 2000, there has been a steady growth in the World History textbook market. I have been a fan of the course and how the AP has created a trickle down effect to other World History courses. Teaching either the AP or course inspired by the AP curriculum allows a teacher to paint a sweeping picture of the history of the world, allowing students to see that the concept of globalization was not invented at the end of the Cold War.
I have just begun to dig into this book, but I have been a huge fan of Dr. Fernandez-Armesto’s work for over 10 years. His scholarship is BIG history, looking at large concepts like interaction of peoples and the impact of technology on civilizations on the macro level. I remember in the 1999-2000 school year using his book Millennium, which that same year was the basis of a great CNN docu-news series of the same name. More recently I have used his work Civilizations to craft “super lectures” for my methods classes.
Below are some more in-depth reviews of the book, I hope to post my own soon:
