The World History Workbook

A comprehensive history of our world, from the dawn of human history to the present day.

This innovative and user-friendly workbook is designed to guide students and instructors through the ideas and methods of the growing field of world history. Useful as either a supplement or as a core text, this hands-on book provides all the elements necessary to conduct a full-fledged world history course, including narrative, projects, primary sources, and a glossary of terms. Within a unifying argument that world history is the history of a single humanity, David Hertzel uses the comparative method and an array of primary sources to teach critical thinking skills using primary sources. Students become active learners, not only observers but participants in and heirs to world history.

This innovative and user-friendly workbook, now combined into a single volume organized chronologically, guides students and instructors through the ideas and methods of world history. It provides all the elements necessary to support a world history course, including narrative, projects, primary sources, and a detailed glossary of terms.

Contains questions and answers for 30 lessons.

This book—which took me over ten years to complete—will reveal you to be a beneficiary of an ancient heritage of dazzling depth and beauty. By the sheer fact of being a human being, you are connected to the heroes of the past, who through their titanic acts have moved the world incrementally forward. It is time for you to become acquainted with this heritage—and this book will do just that. We will trace the coming into consciousness of the human race from its tribal beginnings all the way up to the modern day. We will focus not on the succession of wars and kings, but on the soul-stirring and brave individuals, who with their ideas and insights have shaped our world, our self-perception, our understanding, and our freedom, and whose stories can give rich meaning to our lives. We start our story when humanity finds itself in a foreign body in the midst of nature, interpreting the world as an interplay of gods and demons. The West increasingly placed the individual center stage, seeing human beings as agents with a free will, able to comprehend the world through reason and science, and deserving of inalienable rights. In the East, the emphasis was on finding a timeless reality within ourselves, resulting in a relentless quest to understand and control the mind and rid ourselves of its illusions. It is the greatest story ever told.