21st-Century Narratives of World History

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxxiii

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2. Historical Background

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. ‘Grand Narrative’ and ‘New’ World Histories: Their Historical Challenges and Contributions in Western Scholarship

      • R. Charles Weller

      Pages 3-33

   3. ‘Western’ and ‘White Civilization’: White Nationalism and Eurocentrism at the Crossroads

      • R. Charles Weller

      Pages 35-80

3. 21st-Century Narratives of World History

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 81-81

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   2. Periodization in World History: Challenges and Opportunities

      • Peter N. Stearns

      Pages 83-109

   3. “Complexity, Energy and Information in Big History and Human History”

      • David Christian

      Pages 111-142

   4. History Beyond Humanity: Between ‘Big’ and ‘Deep’ History

      • Felipe Fernández-Armesto

      Pages 143-167

   5. The Human System: An Introduction

      • Patrick Manning

      Pages 169-196

   6. Social and Cultural World History

      • Merry Wiesner-Hanks

      Pages 197-229

   7. World History as a Single Story

      • Tamim Ansary

      Pages 231-263

   8. Western, Russian, and Islamic Culture in World Civilizational Perspective

      • Tursin Hafizuhli Gabitov

      Pages 265-289

   9. Going Global: Thematic Explorations in World History

      • Candice Goucher

      Pages 291-315

4. Comparative Historiographical Critiques

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 317-319

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   2. World History and Perspectivity: Between Necessity and Opportunity

      • Gotelind Müller

      Pages 321-328

   3. World Histories in Conversation

      • Leonid Trofimov

      Pages 329-337

   4. Eight World Historians

      • Diego Olstein

      Pages 339-346

5. Back Matter

   Pages 347-412

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This book makes a unique and timely contribution to world/global historical studies and related fields. It places essential world historical frameworks by top scholars in the field today in clear, direct relation to and conversation with one other, offering them opportunity to enrich, elucidate and, at times, challenge one another. It thereby aims to: (1) offer world historians opportunity to critically reflect upon and refine their essential interpretational frameworks, (2) facilitate more effective and nuanced teaching and learning in and beyond the classroom, (3) provide accessible world historical contexts for specialized areas of historical as well as other fields of research in the humanities, social sciences and sciences, and (4) promote comparative historiographical critique which (a) helps identify continuing research questions for the field of world history in particular, as well as (b) further global peace and dialogue in relation to varying views of our ever-increasingly interconnected, interdependent, multicultural, and globalized world and its shared though diverse and sometimes contested history.

• comparative
• global
• narrative
• historiography
• interdependent
• multicultural
• interconnected
• diverse
• culture
• periodization
• Western
• Russia
• Islam
• migration

• Department of History, Washington State University, Pullman, USA

  R. Charles Weller

R. Charles Weller is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Roots of Contemporary Issues World History & Asia Programs at Washington State University, USA, and a non-residential Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

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