Developed to meet the demand for a low-cost, high-quality history book, CENGAGE ADVANTAGE BOOKS: THE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLES, Fifth Edition, offers readers the complete THE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLES, Fifth Edition, text in an affordable format. This two-color version of the text includes the complete core text, but with fewer maps, photos, and boxed features for a manageable length in a new smaller trim size for easy portability. THE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLES, Fifth Edition, presents world history in a balanced, global framework, shifting the focus away from political centers of power. This truly global text for the world history survey course employs fundamental themes of "environment and technology" and "diversity and dominance" to explore patterns of human interaction with their surroundings and with each other. The authors' approach reveals how humanity continues to shape and be shaped by the environment and how dominant structures and traditions are balanced and challenged by alternate beliefs. Special emphasis is given to technological development and how it underlies all human activity.

Author Biography

Daniel R. Headrick received his Ph.D. in History from Princeton University. Professor of History and Social Science, Emeritus, at Roosevelt University in Chicago, he is the author of several books on the history of technology, imperialism, and international relations, including THE TOOLS OF EMPIRE: TECHNOLOGY AND EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY; THE TENTACLES OF PROGRESS: TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN THE AGE OF IMPERIALISM; THE INVISIBLE WEAPON: TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS; TECHNOLOGY: A WORLD HISTORY; POWER OVER PEOPLES: TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTS AND WESTERN IMPERIALISM, 1400 TO THE PRESENT; and WHEN INFORMATION CAME OF AGE: TECHNOLOGIES OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE AGE OF REASON AND REVOLUTION, 1700-1850. His articles have appeared in the JOURNAL OF WORLD HISTORY and the JOURNAL OF MODERN HISTORY, and he has been awarded fellowships by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Professor of History at Boston College, David Northrup earned his Ph.D. in African and European History from the University of California at Los Angeles. He earlier taught in Nigeria with the Peace Corps and at Tuskegee Institute. Research supported by the Fulbright-Hays Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Social Science Research Council led to publications concerning pre-colonial Nigeria, the Congo (1870-1940), the Atlantic slave trade, and Asian, African, and Pacific islander indentured labor in the nineteenth century. A contributor to the OXFORD HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE and BLACKS IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE, his latest book is AFRICA'S DISCOVERY OF EUROPE, 1450-1850. In 2004 and 2005 he served as president of the World History Association. Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Lyman L. Johnson earned his Ph.D. in Latin American History from the University of Connecticut. A two-time Senior Fulbright-Hays Lecturer, he also has received fellowships from the Tinker Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Philosophical Society. His recent books include DEATH, DISMEMBERMENT, AND MEMORY; THE FACES OF HONOR (with Sonya Lipsett-Rivera); THE PROBLEM OF ORDER IN CHANGING SOCIETIES; ESSAYS ON THE PRICE HISTORY OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LATIN AMERICA (with Enrique Tandeter); and COLONIAL LATIN AMERICA (with Mark A. Burkholder). He also has published in journals, including the HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, the JOURNAL OF LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, the INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL HISTORY, SOCIAL HISTORY, and DESARROLLO ECONOMICO. He recently served as president of the Conference on Latin American History. Pamela Kyle Crossley received her Ph.D. in Modern Chinese History from Yale University. She is currently the Robert and Barbara Black Professor of History at Dartmouth College. Her books include THE WOBBLING PIVOT: AN INTERPRETIVE HISTORY OF CHINA SINCE 1800; WHAT IS GLOBAL HISTORY?; A TRANSLUCENT MIRROR: HISTORY AND IDENTITY IN QING IMPERIAL IDEOLOGY; THE MANCHUS; ORPHAN WARRIORS: THREE MANCHU GENERATIONS AND THE END OF THE QING WORLD; and (with Lynn Hollen Lees and John W. Servos) GLOBAL SOCIETY: THE WORLD SINCE 1900. Richard W. Bulliet (PhD, Harvard University) is Professor of Middle Eastern History at Columbia University. He has written scholarly works on a number of topics: the social and economic history of medieval Iran (THE PATRICIANS OF NISHAPUR and COTTON, CLIMATE, AND CAMELS IN EARLY ISLAMIC IRAN), the history of human-animal relations (THE CAMEL AND THE WHEEL and HUNTERS, HERDERS, AND HAMBURGERS), the process of conversion to Islam (CONVERSION TO ISLAM IN THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD), and the overall course of Islamic social history (ISLAM: THE VIEW FROM THE EDGE and THE CASE FOR ISLAMO-CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION). He is the editor of the COLUMBIA HISTORY OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. He has published four novels, coedited THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST, and hosted an educational television series on the Middle East. He was awarded a fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and was named a Carnegie Corporation Scholar. Steven W. Hirsch holds a Ph.D. in Classics from Stanford University and is currently Associate Professor of Classics and History at Tufts University. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Massachusetts Foundation for Humanities and Public Policy. His research and publications include THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE BARBARIANS: XENOPHON AND THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, as well as articles and reviews in the CLASSICAL JOURNAL, the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY, and the JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY HISTORY. He is currently working on a comparative study of ancient Mediterranean and Chinese civilizations.