This classic, inexpensive, brief text is perfect for colleges organized on the quarter system or for professors who want to assign supplemental reading. The organization of the text was revised for greater clarity, and this edition includes a chapter on "The Collapse of Communism and New Realities." The coverage of social and cultural history has been increased without sacrificing the text's distinctive balance. The eighth edition contains a thorough map program, and a boxed feature highlighting primary sources.

Table of Contents:
PART I: THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST, 4000-300 B.C.CHAPTER 1: The River Valley Civilizations: Mesopotamia and Egypt, 4000-1750CHAPTER 2: The Diffusion of Near Eastern Civilization, 1750-800 B.C.CHAPTER 3: The Great Empires: Assyria and Persia, 800-300 B.CPART II: GRECO-ROMAN CIVILIZATION, 1200 B.C.- A.D. 500CHAPTER 4: The Origins and the Development of the Greek City-State PoliticsCHAPTER 5: The Greek Golden Age, 500-336 B.C.: Life, War, and PoliticsCHAPTER 6: Greek Thought and ExpressionCHAPTER 7: Greek Imperialism: The Hellenistic World, 336-31 B.C.CHAPTER 8: The Rise of Rome to Domination of the Mediterranean World, 800 B.C.-1313B.CCHAPTER 9: The Failure of the Roman Republic, 133-31 B.CCHAPTER 10: The Roman Empire and the Pax Romana, 31 B.C.- A.D. 18CHAPTER 11: Roman Thought and ExpressionCHAPTER 12: Crisis in the Roman World, A.D. 180-284: Conflict, Change, and ChristianityCHAPTER 13: Late Antiquity, A.D. 284-500: End of Greco-Roman CivilizationPART III: THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES, 500-1000: TOWARD NEW ORDERCHAPTER 14: Heirs of the Roman Empire: The Byzantine and Moslem EmpiresCHAPTER 15: Heirs to the Roman Empire: Latin Western EuropeCHAPTER 16: The First Europe: The Carolingian Age, 750-900CHAPTER 17: Lordship and Dependency; Feudalism and MonorialismPART IV: THE CENTRAL AND LATER MIDDLE AGES, 1000-1450: THE RESURGENCE OF EUROPECHAPTER 18: Economic and Social Revival, 1000-1300CHAPTER 19: The Restoration of Political Order: The Revival of Monarchy, 1000-1300CHAPTER 20: The Medieval Expansion of EuropeCHAPTER 21: Religious Renewal, 1000-1300CHAPTER 22: Intellectual and Artistic Revival, 1000-1300CHAPTER 23: Transition in Economic, Social, and Political Institutions, 1300-1500CHAPTER 24: Transition in Religion and Thought, 1300-1500PART V: EARLY MODERN TIMES: THE RENAISSANCE TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURYCHAPTER 25: The Renaissance: ItalyCHAPTER 26: The Renaissance: The NorthCHAPTER 27: The Rise of National StatesCHAPTER 28: European Expansion, Commercial Capitalism, and Social ChangeCHAPTER 29: The ReformationCHAPTER 30: Politics and the Wars of ReligionCHAPTER 31: Society, Faith, and Culture in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth CenturiesCHAPTER 32: Royal Absolutism in Western and Eastern EuropeCHAPTER 33: The Challenge to Absolutism: England and the Dutch NetherlandsCHAPTER 34: Overseas Colonization and Competition for EmpiresCHAPTER 35: The Scientific RevolutionCHAPTER 36: The EnlightenmentPART VI: REVOLUTION, INDUSTRIALIZATION, AND NATIONALISM, 1776-1914CHAPTER 37: The American RevolutionCHAPTER 38: The French Revolution, 1789-1799CHAPTER 39: The Era of Napoleon, 1799-1815CHAPTER 40: The Industrial RevolutionCHAPTER 41: Romanticism in Philosophy, Literature, and the ArtsCHAPTER 42: Conservatism, Restoration, and Reaction, 1815-1830CHAPTER 43: Liberalism and Revolution, 1830-1850CHAPTER 44: Nationalism and the Nation-State, 1850-1871CHAPTER 45: Industrial Society, Social Classes and WomenCHAPTER 46: Science and the Challenge to ChristianityCHAPTER 47: Thought and Culture in an Age of Nationalism and IndustrializationCHAPTER 48: Politics, Democracy, and Nationalism, 1871-1914CHAPTER 49: Democracy, Expansion, Civil War, and Reform in the United States, 1800-1920CHAPTER 50: ImperialismPART VII: WAR AND GLOBAL INTERDEPENDENCE, 1914-PRESENTCHAPTER 51: World War I, 1914-1918CHAPTER 52: Revolution and Communism in RussiaCHAPTER 53: The Rise of Fascism and AuthoritarianismCHAPTER 54: Paralysis of the Democratic WestCHAPTER 55: World War II, 1939-1945CHAPTER 56: The Recovery of Europe and the Superpowers, 1945-1980sCHAPTER 57: Society and Culture in the Twentieth CenturyCHAPTER 58: Decolonization and the Non-Western World, 1945-PresentCHAPTER 59: The Collapse of Communism and New Realities