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 Cover Page Halftitle Page Title Page Copyright Page 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 Index Building on A People’s History of the United States , this radical world history captures the broad sweep of human history from the perspective of struggling classes. An “indispensable volume” on class and capitalism throughout the ages—for readers reckoning with the history they were taught and history as it truly was (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. A vital corrective to traditional history, A People's History of the World is essential reading for anyone interested in how society has changed and developed and the possibilities for further radical progress. A new edition of the bestselling comprehensive radical history of the planet In this monumental book, Chris Harman achieves the impossible—a gripping history of the planet from the perspective of struggling peoples throughout the ages. 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. 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 "Chris Harman describes the shape and course of human history as a narrative of ordinary people forming and re-forming complex societies in pursuit of common human goals. Interacting with the forces of technological change as well as the impact of powerful individuals and revolutionary ideas, these societies have engendered events familiar to every schoolchild - from the empires of antiquity to the world wars of the twentieth century. In a bravura conclusion, Chris Harman exposes the reductive complacency of contemporary capitalism, and asks, in a world riven as never before by suffering and inequality, why we imagine that it can - or should - survive much longer. Ambitious, provocative and invigorating, A People's History of the World delivers a vital corrective to traditional history, as well as a powerful sense of the deep currents of humanity which surge beneath the froth of government."--Book cover 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