Brief yet detailed, this book provides a thoughtful history of human civilizations while maintaining a balance between the Western world and the rest of global civilization. It covers the general intellectual and material history of human societies and cultures that have left some kind of written and/or archeological record behind. A four-part organization covers the coming of civilization, empires and cultures of the ancient world, consolidation and interaction of world civilizations, and the world in transition. For anyone trying to understand the historical experiences that have informed and shaped the world's cultures.