INTRODUCING
A History of the World in Seven Themes (Oxford University Press, 2022) I have worked with Oxford University Press for more than six yearts to produce an utterly fresh, new single-author approach to World History textbook.
Seven Themes is short, less than half the pages of competing World History textbooks and is priced about half of the cost of conventional textboooks. Seven Themes has a coherent and comprehensible overall structure. Each volume consistes of seven chapters. Each chapter opens with the Big Picture, which poses a theme (some teachers will term this theme a "driving question"). The body of each chapter focuses on a theme that every society - historical or contemporary - must face, regardless of religion, political structure, ethnicity, language, or geographbical locartion. Themes of chapters include, for example, food. loyalty, slavery, gender, trade, technology, and human rights. Each chapter concludes witht the Bigger Picture, which brings the core theme forward to the present, suggesting varioius ways in which societies have handled these fundamental issues across time and underscores the commonalitites and diversity in human experience. The book presents these broad societal problems through the experiences of guides, that is, actual historical figures whose letters and oral accounts show how they were deeply affected by the chapter's theme. Most of the guides derive from cultures far beyond Europe and the United States. The chapters utiilize modern scientific methods of understanding the past. In Chapter One, for example, microanalysis of tartar on ancient homonid teeth reveals datable evidence for the shift from eating tough grasses to a more varied diet including meat. Seven Themes is closely aligned with my author's app (7themes.app), which contains
Teachers treasure the interwoven narratives, the themes and the scientific analyses of the past. David Atwill (Penn State University) describes Seven Themes, thusly [ A History of the World in Seven Themes] is like having David Attenborough personally walk you through key episodes of the past pointing out interesting stories, fascinating episodes, and iconic individuals as he guides you through the history of the world. Contact Oxford University Press and they will send you an desk copy.
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Why History Matters As far back as we can see in human existence people have been telling stories about the past. How else can we interpret Neolithic cave paintings? Drawings of the hunt recorded the number of animals and the number of hunters. Looking at the drawing later - even generations later – could trigger stories of that day’s triumphs and heroes. Who knows, perhaps there were “keepers of the stories”, the first historians.
History matters primarily because it is one of the bedrock, irreducible ways of understanding the world. There are comprehensible causes to things that happen and people – through diligent study and attention – can connect causes and effects. History is not uncovering documents, amassing or memorizing facts. It is the struggle to ask a question that matters of material from the past. And what makes a question about the past matter? First, such a question can make us both humble and hopeful. For example, if the question is “How long do empires generally last?’ And the answer is “Two to three generations”. We might, from this pattern, be more humble about wanting to form an empire. And we might be hopeful because many groups somehow survive imperial adventures. Second, the right question makes us aware of our responsibilities to the future. Just as choices made in the past affect us now, choices we make now will impact generations to come. Third, a good question makes us aware of the commonality of human experience, as well as differences between ourselves and groups from the past. At best, seeing others struggle with problems, whether they succeeded or failed, promotes empathy and understanding. Finally, there is the sheer delight of discovering and sharing a pattern to some set of events that seemed unorganized and meaningless. All of us are historians.We all tell stories of the past. The struggle and the joy is the search for questions that matter. Dr. Stewart Gordon
Stewart Gordon is an Independent Research Scholar connected to the South Asia Center of the University of Michigan. That said, he is anything but a stuffy academic. He has rambled by bus across Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. He has struggled up Inca paths in Peru and boated up the Mekong and the Mississippi. Gordon has photographed antiquities in Cambodia and Paleolithic cave paintings in India and has served as a consultant for the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Walt Disney Company and the American Queen steamboat. He writes regularly for Aramco World magazine. Gordon has received many awards including Woodrow Wilson and Fulbright fellowships and an Earhart Foundation writing grant. His book, “When Asia was the World”, became a bestseller and has been translated into eight languages. The National Endowment for the Humanities placed the book in more than 1000 libraries across the United States. Gordon was a professional restorer of fine antique furniture and has owned shops in Ann Arbor, Los Angeles and London. He currently lives in Ann Arbor and has recently built a full-sized, fully equipped horse drawn gypsy wagon (vardo). He regualrly produces folk art moving sculpture for two galleries, Tamarack (Omeena, MI) and Caza Sikes (Cincinnati, OH).
Dr. Gordon's Vita Contact Wikipedia Creative Commons Photos: (Left to Right) @ the Taj Mahal, Jaipur Fort, India, Machu Pichu, Hai Phong Bay, Vietnam. |