Approaches to Global History

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is William P. Reynolds Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, USA. Some of his recent publications include 1492: The Year Our World Began (2011), Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration (2006) and The Conquistadors: A Very Short Introduction (2011).

Introduction

Part I: Prophecy and Providentialism

1. The Book of Daniel, Chapters 7-12
2. Paulus Orosius, Seven Books Against the Pagans, Dedication, From Book I, Section 1 and from Books II (Section 1), V (Sections 1-2) and VII (Sections 1-3)
3. M. Reeves, Joachim of Fiore and the Prophetic Future, From Chapter 1, “Joachim and the Meaning of History”
4. From Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History

Part II: From Providence to Progress

5. Johann Gottfried Herder, Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man, Book XV, Chapters 1-5
6. Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View, On History [1784]
7. G.W.F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of World History, “The Course of the World’s History,” vol. iii, sections 60-99.
8. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party [1848], Chapter 1
9. Leopold von Ranke, Universal History: The Oldest Historical Group of Nations and the Greeks [1884], Preface

Part III: The Scientific Temptation

10. Herbert Spencer, “Progress: Its Law and Consequences” [1886], Chapter 1
11. Christopher Dawson, The Age of the Gods [1928], “Introduction”
12. David Christian, “World History in Context” [2003]
13. Richard Lewontin and Joseph Fraccia, “Does Culture Evolve?” [1994]
14. Felipe Fernández-Armesto, “How to be Human: A Historical Approach” [2010]
15. Daniel Lord Smail, “Neuroscience and the Dialectics of History” [2012]

Part IV: Comparative and Contextual Approaches

16. Ian G. Simmons, ‘“To Civility and Man´s Use”: History, Culture, and Nature’ [1998]
17. Jared M.Diamond, “Colonization Cycles in Man and Beast” [1977]
18. Kenneth Pomeranz, “Social History and World History from Daily Life to Patterns of Change” [2007]
19. Bruce Mazlish, “Comparing Global History to World History” [1998]

Part V: The Eurocentrism Controversies

20. Arnold J. Toynbee, “My View of History” [1948]
21. Samuel Huntington,. “The Clash of Civilizations” [1993]
22. J.C. van Leur, Indonesian Trade and Society: Essays in Asian Social and Economic History [1967], Chapter 1: “On Methodology and Theory”
23. W.H. McNeill, “A Defence of World History” [1982]

Envoi: The New Narratives

24. David Christian, “The Return of Universal History” [2010]
25. David Northrup, “Globalization and the Great Convergence: Rethinking World History in the Long Term” [2008]