A People's History of the World : From the Stone Age to the New Millennium

The best-selling comprehensive history of the world, from the perspective of struggling peoples throughout the ages—now with new material and a foreword by Howard Zinn From the earliest human societies to the Holy Roman Empire, from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, from the Industrial Revolution to the end of the twentieth century, Chris Harman provides a brilliant and comprehensive history of the human race. Eschewing the standard accounts of “Great Men,” of dates and kings, Harman offers a groundbreaking counter-history, a breathtaking sweep across the centuries in the tradition of “history from below.” In a fiery narrative, he shows how ordinary men and women were involved in creating and changing society and how conflict between classes was often at the core of these developments. While many scholars see the victory of capitalism as now safely secured, Harman explains the rise and fall of societies and civilizations throughout the ages and demonstrates that history moves ever onward in every age. This magisterial study is essential reading for anyone interested in how society has changed and developed and the possibilities for further radical progress. “I have had many people ask me if there is a book which does for world history what my book A People’s History of the United States does for this country. I always responded that I know of only one book that accomplishes this extremely difficult task, and that is Chris Harman’s A People’s History of the World .” —Howard Zinn Title Page Copyright Contents Introduction Part one: The rise of class societies Prologue: Before class Chapter 1 The neolithic ‘revolution’ Chapter 2 The first civilisations Chapter 3 The first class divisions Chapter 4 Women’s oppression Chapter 5 The first ‘Dark Ages’ Part two: The ancient world Chapter 1 Iron and empires Chapter 2 Ancient India Chapter 3 The first Chinese empires Chapter 4 The Greek city states Chapter 5 Rome’s rise and fall Chapter 6 The rise of Christianity Part three: The ‘Middle Ages’ Chapter 1 The centuries of chaos Chapter 2 China: the rebirth of the empire Chapter 3 Byzantium: the living fossil Chapter 4 The Islamic revolutions Chapter 5 The African civilisations Chapter 6 European feudalism Part four: The great transformation Chapter 1 The conquest of the New Spain Chapter 2 Renaissance to Reformation Chapter 3 The birth pangs of a new order Chapter 4 The last flowering of Asia’s empires Part five: The spread of the new order Chapter 1 A time of social peace Chapter 2 From superstition to science Chapter 3 The Enlightenment Chapter 4 Slavery and wage slavery Chapter 5 Slavery and racism Chapter 6 The economics of ‘free labour’ Part six: The world turned upside down Chapter 1 American prologue Chapter 2 The French Revolution Chapter 3 Jacobinism outside France Chapter 4 The retreat of reason Chapter 5 The industrial revolution Chapter 6 The birth of Marxism Chapter 7 1848 Chapter 8 The American Civil War Chapter 9 The conquest of the East Chapter 10 The Japanese exception Chapter 11 Storming heaven: The Paris Commune Part seven: The century of hope and horror Chapter 1 The world of capital Chapter 2 World war and world revolution Chapter 3 Europe in turmoil Chapter 4 Revolt in the colonial world Chapter 5 The ‘Golden Twenties’ Chapter 6 The great slump Chapter 7 Strangled hope: 1934-36 Chapter 8 Midnight in the century Chapter 9 The Cold War Chapter 10 The new world disorder Conclusion: Illusion of the epoch Notes Glossary Further Reading In this monumental book, Chris Harman achieves the impossible-a gripping history of the planet from the perspective of the struggling people throughout the ages.From earliest human society to the Holy Roman Empire, from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, from the Industrial Revolution to the end of the millennium, Chris Harman provides a brilliant and comprehensive history of the planet. Eschewing the standard histories of'Great Men,'of dates and kings, Harman offers a groundbreaking counter-history, a breathtaking sweep across the centuries in the tradition of'history from below.'In a fiery narrative, he shows how ordinary men and women were involved in creating and changing society and how conflict between classes was often at the core of these changes. While many pundits see the victory of capitalism as now safely secured, Harman explains the rise and fall of societies and civilizations throughout the ages and demonstrates that history never ends. This magisterial study is essential reading for anyone interested in how society has changed and developed and the possibilities for further radical change. "From the earliest human societies to the Holy Roman Empire, from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, from the Industrial Revolution to the end of the twentieth century, Chris Harman provides a brilliant and comprehensive history of the human race. Eschewing the standard accounts of "Great Men," of dates and kings, Harman offers a groundbreaking counter-history, a breathtaking sweep across the centuries in the tradition of "history from below." In a fiery narrative, he shows how ordinary men and women were involved in creating and changing society and how conflict between classes was often at the core of these developments. While many scholars see the victory of capitalism as now safely secured, Harman explains the rise and fall of societies and civilizations throughout the ages and demonstrates that history moves ever onward in every age. This magisterial study is essential reading for anyone interested in how society has changed and developed and the possibilities for further radical progress"--Publisher's description Examines the human history of the world through the lens of a narrative of ordinary people forming and re-forming complex societies in pursuit of common human goals