Forging the Modern World: A History / Edition 1

by James Carter, Richard Warren

Overview

In Forging the Modern World: A History, authors James Carter and Richard Warren offer an accessible explanation of key transformations in global economic, political, and ideological relationships since the sixteenth century. The book is distinct from most world history texts in three important ways. First, it explores the ways in which historians use and produce information. Each chapter delves deeply into one or two specific issues of historical inquiry related to the chapter theme, showing how new primary sources, methodologies, or intellectual trends have changed how we engage with the past. Second, it clearly explains the political, economic, and ideological concepts that students need to understand in order to compare events and trends across time and space. Finally, the chapters are organized around global historical themes, which are explored through an array of conceptual and comparative lenses. While the book chapters proceed chronologically, each chapter is written with some chronological overlap linking it to preceding and subsequent chapters. This strategy emphasizes the interconnectedness between the events and themes of one chapter and those of surrounding chapters. A companion website includes quiz questions and flash cards for each chapter and PowerPoint-based slides for instructors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199988563
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/26/2015
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	408
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

James Carter is Professor of History at Saint Joseph's University.

Richard Warren is Professor of History at Saint Joseph's University.

Table of Contents

Preface
List of Maps
About the Authors
Introduction

Chapter 1: The Many Worlds of the 15th Century, 1405-1510
Political and Economic Order on the Afro-Eurasian Supercontinent
American Empires of the 15th Century
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 2: The New Global Interface: 1486-1639
The Conquest Era
A World Connected
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 3. The Paradoxes of Early Modern Empire, 1501-1661
Globalization, Guns, and Empire Building
Collapse and Restoration of Empire in China: From Ming to Qing
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 4: Production and Consumption in the First Global Economy, 1571- 1701
The World's Rural Economies
The Sugar-Slave Plantation System
Manufactured Goods and the Emerging Global Economy
Textiles and the Manufacturing Link between India and Europe
The Silver Supply and the Global Economy
Political Economy
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 5. Global War and Imperial Reform, 1655-1765
Consolidating the Center: Modernizing Monarchies
The Question of Control in the Atlantic Seaborne Empires
The Land-Based Empires of Eurasia
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 6. A New Order for the Ages, 1755-1839
What is Enlightenment?
The Breakup of British North America
The French Revolution and the Rise of Napoleon
Independence in Haiti
The Collapse of the Iberian Empire in the Americas
A New Order for the Ages? The Idea of the Nation-State
Freedom and Equality: Paths to Abolition
Reform in the Ottoman Empire
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 7: The Engines of Industrialization, 1787-1868
What is Revolutionary about Industrialization?
Spinning the Industrial Revolution Story
The Opium War and the Transformation of Global Power Relations
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 8. Modernity Organized, 1840-1889
Reform vs. Revolution
Abolition, Immigration and the meaning of "Free Labor"
Modernizing Japan
The Second Industrial Revolution
Keeping Up: The World's Fair
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 9: Globalization and Its Discontents, 1878-1910
Redrawing the Map of the World
The Struggle to Maintain Sovereignty
Radical Resistance to "Westernization"
Questioning Empire at its Center
U.S. Expansionism, the Buffalo and the Passenger Pigeon
Neocolonialism
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 10: Total War and Mass Society, 1905-1928
New Theories, Grand Strategy
Mass Unrest in Russia, China, and Mexico
A Great War
The United States and Japan as Global Powers
Which Way Forward?
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 11: The Ongoing Crisis of Global Order, 1919-1948
Struggles Over Political Order in the Middle East and Asia
Challenges to British Rule in India
Nationalism Frustrated in China
A Communist Future?
The Global Economy in the 1920s
The Great Depression
Fascism Spreads
The Path to Another World War
Unraveling Empire as a Key to the Future
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 12 Hot Wars, Cold Wars and Decolonization: 1942-1975
Uncomfortable Allies Plan a New Order
The Search for Common Ground
Economic Development and Non-Alignment: Three Worlds?
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Chapter 13: The Many Worlds of the 21st Century, 1972-2012
The Cold War and 1970s Political Realism
Explaining the End of the Cold War
Global Economic Integration
Conclusion
A Few Good Books

Epilogue
Credits
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Forging the Modern World is a concise and stimulating overview of major trends in world history, moving skillfully across the globe and punctuated by memorable anecdotes."—Kenneth Pomeranz, University of Chicago

"Forging the Modern World is a very strong text. It contextualizes the most significant, general processes at work in the modern world. This will be an interesting book to teach from."—Thomas Sanders, U.S. Naval Academy

"Forging the Modern World achieves a bird's eye view of an integrated and integrating planet, and does it in an easy and accessible writing style."—Chad Ross, East Carolina University

From the Publisher