About the Author:
The author, now 59 years of age, studied history, philosophy, English literature, and other subjects at Yale University. His career, however, took him into non-academic fields as an accountant for several types of organizations and as owner/manager of rental properties in Minneapolis. The author has traveled in Europe and the Far East, including a years residence in Germany. He is now learning Chinese. His writing is known for wide-ranging research and clarity of expression. This is his fourth publication.
From Booklist:
Those who seriously regard the study of history as a social "science" often feel compelled to discover patterns or forces or dialectic that can explain the myriad of human experiences. McGaughey has not been trained as a professional historian; after graduating from Yale in 1994, he worked as an accountant while writing several books on economics and world trade. Still, he displays a competent grasp of the basic events and mass movements that changed the way millions have lived. He presents the last five millennia as a playing out of five epochs through which virtually all world civilizations must progress; these include such epochs as the age of military empires, the age of world religions, and the emerging age of computer technology. McGaughey writes with a refreshing, nonpedantic, and breezy style. While he often strains to fit square pegs into round holes in support of his thesis, he often convincingly points out common strands that have united disparate societies. This should be an enjoyable but not necessarily convincing work for general readers. Jay Freeman
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.