The Slow Rise to a Global World

Through a number of engaging and illuminating vignettes, The Slow Rise to a Global World guides students through over 500 years of world history, exploring both the lesser-known and common happenings that have shaped a more globalized world. Readers experience world history through a variety of viewpoints, cultures, and angles, encouraging them to critically examine major events—and their various interpretations—throughout the last several centuries. This anthology progresses chronologically through three distinct units. Unit 1 covers the early-modern period, from 1200 to 1500, featuring readings that explore development in and competition between Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and Africa in the wake of the Black Death pandemic. Unit 2 spans the years from 1500 to 1900, following the rise of the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, old and new colonialism, and nationalism, as well as responses to increasing modernity throughout various regions and countries. The final unit ushers students into the 1900s, with readings ranging in topics from economic downturns to superpower nationalism, the Chinese Civil War to the modern Caribbean and Africa, and concluding with a discussion of globalization. The Slow Rise to a Global World is an excellent resource for introductory courses in global affairs and world history.Steven Harris-Scott is a historian with a doctoral degree in history from George Mason University and a master’s degree in history from the University of New Orleans. He is an assistant professor and the program manager of the Graduate International Pathways Program at INTO George Mason University. His research focuses on deciphering seventeenth-century colonial English documentation and the analysis of county court records from colonial Virginia, particularly to illuminate the various ways unfree labor was held and exploited.