The Webs of Humankind: A World History (Volume 1)

A cohesive, single-author world history built around the webs of interaction, in a portable value format.

A leader in the field presents a cohesive narrative of world history that effectively addresses the main challenge of the introductory survey: how to navigate beginning students through the vast detail of the subject. McNeill uses connective webs―along which trade, religious beliefs, technologies, pathogens, and much else traveled―to organize details and keep the big picture in view. Instructors have hailed McNeill’s approach as “integrative” and “accessible,” and students call the book “easy-to-absorb” and “fun to read.” In a portable and affordable Seagull edition, with digital resources that amplify the webs approach and highlight diverse types of evidence, John McNeill’s The Webs of Humankind offers a clear and effective teaching tool for the world history survey course and the best value for students.

J. R. McNeill is Distinguished University Professor at Georgetown University. He is the author of award-winning works in world and environmental history. These include The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History (co-authored with his father and world history pioneer, William H. McNeill) and Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World, both published by Norton. He has served as president of the American Society for Environmental History and the American Historical Association.