Global History: Cultural Encounters from Antiquity to the Present

This well-conceived new reference presents the historic changes that occurred following cross-cultural contact, including new alliances, religious beliefs, political beliefs, and cultural development of all kinds. Appropriate for undergraduate students as well as general readers, the four volumes divide the material chronologically and cover, respectively, antiquity, the expansion of religions and empires, the age of discovery and colonial expansion, and the contemporary world. Each volume contains its own timeline, glossary, and bibliography; and maps, bibliographies, and excerpts from primary documents are included with each chapter. A sampling of topics in the contemporary world volume: Asian religions and the New Age in the US, American empire in the Philippines, Tejano music, the Cold War, global human rights, and the AIDS pandemic. Other topics include Olmec influence in Mesoamerica, the Persian empire of Darius, barbarians in China, Buddhism in China, Islam in Spain, Chinese migration to Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim, and the Russian empire and the civilizations of Asia and America. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)