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This is a solid, well-planned cartographic introduction to world history that packs a huge amount of information into its 368 pages, in an unspectacular way. Over 50 academics collaborated to write it, and it aims to have a truly global perspective, abandoning the eurocentrism of the past. The maps are plain and workmanlike, not elegant but very clear. In order to cover the world in a single volume, each two-page spread has to cover a lot of ground, especially in the earlier chapters. Topics are as broad as, for example, "Civilizations in MesoAmerica 1200BC-AD700" or "The Byzantine Empire 527-1025", and even in the modern era a single spread will cover something as big as "The American Revolution" or "The Industrial Revolution in Europe 1830-1914". The book does, however, find space to treat major religious and social movements, such as population growth and urbanisation, breaking away from the old-style focus on political history. There is far more here than just the rise and fall of empires. A book of this kind must needs work in large generalisations, yet the authors still find time for snapshots of the little details that make the past live, and for telling statistics. Did you know that "By AD2, the date of the first national census, China had a recorded population of 57 million"? Or that the Black Death halted the construction of Siena cathedral half-way through and the building is still truncated today? 160 illustrations, diagrams and photos, 600 encyclopaedic entries, an 8,000-entry index and 24 pages of time charts back up the maps, and, we are assured, the book's content is tied in to school and college curricula. --David Pickering
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