For an accessible, comprehensive global survey of the world's major civilizations, Adler and Pouwels' WORLD CIVILIZATIONS offers a great balance between detail and brevity. This unique student-oriented text offers 53 short chapters accompanied by strong pedagogy and critical thinking tools, giving instructors the flexibility to assign a wide range of major topics in world history in a variety of different ways, while making learning more manageable for students. The focused treatment of topics throughout history covers every major epoch and follows broad patterns and processes, while illuminating history through specific examples and a particular emphasis on social and cultural topics. This edition is available in MindTap®, an online learning experience that guides students through the course by combining the complete textbook with interactive multimedia, new chapter and unit activities, and study tools that assist instructors in keeping students engaged with the material.

Unit I: FROM HUMAN ORIGINS TO AGRARIAN COMMUNITIES, c. 100,000–¬500 B.C.E.
1. The Earliest Human Societies.
2. Mesopotamia.
3. Early Africa and Egypt.
4. Central Asia and India's Beginnings.
5. Ancient China to 221 B.C.E.
6. Settlement of the Americas and the Pacific Island.
Worldview I: From Human Origins to Agrarian Communities, 100,000–500 B.C.E.
Unit II: CLASSICAL CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WORLD, 500 B.C.E.–800 C.E.
7. New Civilizations and Empires in Western and Central Asia.
8. The Greek Adventure.
9. Greek Humanism, 800–100 B.C.E.
10. Rome: From City-State to Empire.
11. The Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity in the West, 31 B.C.E.–800 C.E.
12. Iran, India, and "Global" Trade.
13. Imperial China in Its Golden Age.
Worldview II: Classical Civilizations of the World, 500 B.C.E.–800 C.E.
Unit III: THE POST-CLASSICAL ERA, c. 650–1500 C.E.
14. The Americas to the Fifteenth Century.
15. Islam.
16. Mature Islamic Civilization and the First Global Civilization.
17. Africa from Axum to 1400.
18. The Mongols Unify Eurasia.
19. Japan and Southeast Asia.
20. The European Middle Ages, c. 800–1500.
21. The Late European Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Worldview III: The Post-Classical Era, 800–1400 C.E.
Unit IV: EXPANDING WEBS OF INTERACTION, c. 1400–1800.
22. A Larger World Opens.
23. Religious Division and Political Consolidation in Europe.
24. The Gunpowder Empires of Western and Southern Asia.
25. Africa in the Era of Expansion.
26. China from the Ming Through the Early Qing Dynasty.
27. Japan and Southeast Asia in the Era of European Expansion.
28. From Conquest to Colonies in Hispanic America.
Worldview IV: Expanding Webs of Interaction, 1400–1700 C.E.
Unit V: REVOLUTIONS, IDEOLOGY, THE NEW IMPERIALISM, AND THE AGE OF EMPIRE, 1700–1920.
29. The Scientific Revolution and Its Enlightened Aftermath.
30. Liberalism and the Challenge to Absolute Monarchy.
31. The Early Industrial Revolution.
32. Europe: New Ideas and New Nations.
33. Advanced Industrial Society.
34. The Islamic World, 1600–1917.
35. India and Southeast Asia Under Colonial Rule.
36. European Imperialism and Africa During the Age of Industry.
37. China in the Age of Imperialism.
38. Latin America from Independence to Dependent States.
39. Modern Science and Its Implications.
Worldview V: Revolutions and the Age of Empire, 1600–1914.
Unit VI: TOWARD A GLOBALIZED WORLD, 1916–Present.
40. World War I and Its Disputed Settlement.
41. A Fragile Balance: Europe in the Twenties.
42. The Soviet Experiment to World War II.
43. Totalitarianism Refined: The Nazi State.
44. East Asia in a Century of Change.
45. World War II.
46. The Cold World War.
47. Decolonization of the Non-Western World.
48. The New Asia.
49. Africa's Decolonization and Independence.
50. Latin America in the Twentieth Century.
51. The Reemergence of the Muslim World.
52. Collapse and Reemergence in Communist Europe.
53. A New Millennium.
Glossary.
Index.

For an accessible, comprehensive global survey of the world's major civilizations, Adler and Pouwels' WORLD CIVILIZATIONS offers a great balance between detail and brevity. This unique student-oriented text offers 53 short chapters accompanied by strong pedagogy and critical thinking tools, giving instructors the flexibility to assign a wide range of major topics in world history in a variety of different ways, while making learning more manageable for students. The focused treatment of topics throughout history covers every major epoch and follows broad patterns and processes, while illuminating history through specific examples and a particular emphasis on social and cultural topics. This edition is available in MindTap®, an online learning experience that guides students through the course by combining the complete textbook with interactive multimedia, new chapter and unit activities, and study tools that assist instructors in keeping students engaged with the material. The Historian's Craft, a favorite feature of instructors and students alike, makes a more frequent appearance in the new edition. The variety of new topics includes the use of genomics to reconstruct human global migrations, problems of translation and interpretation of foreign-language evidence, and the role of historical theory. Many new "framing history" features cover a wide range of themes, including Society and Economy, Law and Government, Patterns of Belief, Science and Technology, and Arts and Culture. For example, three new Society and Economy features -- on Women's Power Behind the Throne: The Example of Roxelana, Witchcraft, and Women's Voices in Nineteenth-Century Latin America -- reflect this edition's sharper focus on the importance of women in history. Two of the new Science and Technology features discuss Albert Einstein and Science in the Service of Intelligence. Each chapter now opens with a thought-provoking image and caption that is intended to provide students with an immediate insight into the chapter's contents and to raise questions in their minds as they begin their reading. Fifty-three concise chapters cover key points in manageable "chunks." This organization is ideal for professors who wish to augment lectures with outside material. Historian's Craft boxes describe some of the methods and sources on which professional historians rely to illuminate the past. These include historical linguistics, archaeology, oral traditions, and written documents. Four new topics have been added in the eighth edition, covering problems of translation and interpretation of foreign-language evidence as well as the uses of critical textual analysis, genomic evidence, and historical theory. Thematic "framing history" features are keyed to five broad text themes: Society and Economy, Law and Government, Patterns of Belief, Science and Technology, and Arts and Culture. All chapters have one or more boxes based on these themes; some are based on biography while others are based on primary sources. Two additional features, Evidence of the Past and Images of History, spotlight artifacts and material culture. These and all other text features include a set of critical thinking questions. Unit introductions and unit-opening Worldview maps highlight the major civilizations discussed in each part of the text. The end of each unit features rich pedagogical material including a Putting It All Together review section, a Cross-Cultural Connections feature, and a comprehensive Worldview chart that compares important themes and events across civilizations, encouraging students to think beyond regional borders. Color illustrations, many of them new, and abundant maps throughout the text provide a rich visual context for the narrative discussions.