This groundbreaking world history text has, in its first edition, become a market leader by offering a fresh, global perspective on the past. The text is unique in approach; covering the world as a whole, examining the formations and development of the world’s major societies (“traditions”), and also systematically exploring cross-cultural interactions and exchanges that have been some of the most effective agents of change in all of world history (“encounters”). In addition, the authors have taken great care in constructing a coherent vision of the past that is not weighed down by a mass of detail, thus enabling instructors to incorporate additional readings of their choosing. Finally the text emphasizes that historical processes work themselves out through the lives and experiences of individual human beings, opening each chapter with an account of individual experiences that illuminate themes in that chapter. The second edition includes scholarship updates throughout and revisions to organization and content.