William Hardy McNeill's Books

Plagues and Peoples

By: William McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Upon its original publication, Plagues and Peoples was an immediate critical and popular success, offering a radically new interpretation of world history as seen through the extraordinary impact--political, demographic, ecological, and psychological--of disease on cultures. From the conquest of Mexico by smallpox as much as by the Spanish, to the bubonic plague in China, to the typhoid epidemic in Europe, the history of disease is the history of humankind. With the identification of AIDS in the early 1980s, another chapter has been added to this chronicle of events, which William McNeill explores in his new introduction to this updated editon. Thought-provoking, well-researched, and compulsively readable, Plagues and Peoples is that rare book that is as fascinating as it is scholarly, as intriguing as it is enlightening. "A brilliantly conceptualized and challenging achievement" (Kirkus Reviews), it is essential reading, offering a new perspective on human history.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

370

Publisher

Anchor

Published Date

ISBN 10

0385121229

ISBN 13

9780385121224

The Rise of the West

A History of the Human Community

By: William H. McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Rise of the West

A History of the Human Community

By: William H. McNeill

The Rise of the West, winner of the National Book Award for history in 1964, is famous for its ambitious scope and intellectual rigor. In it, McNeill challenges the Spengler-Toynbee view that a number of separate civilizations pursued essentially independent careers, and argues instead that human cultures interacted at every stage of their history. The author suggests that from the Neolithic beginnings of grain agriculture to the present major social changes in all parts of the world were triggered by new or newly important foreign stimuli, and he presents a persuasive narrative of world history to support this claim. In a retrospective essay titled "The Rise of the West after Twenty-five Years," McNeill shows how his book was shaped by the time and place in which it was written (1954-63). He discusses how historiography subsequently developed and suggests how his portrait of the world's past in The Rise of the West should be revised to reflect these changes. "This is not only the most learned and the most intelligent, it is also the most stimulating and fascinating book that has ever set out to recount and explain the whole history of mankind. . . . To read it is a great experience. It leaves echoes to reverberate, and seeds to germinate in the mind."—H. R. Trevor-Roper, New York Times Book Review

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

866

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226561615

ISBN 13

9780226561615

Population and Politics Since 1750

By: William Hardy McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Population and Politics Since 1750

By: William Hardy McNeill

Looks at how population growth has affected politics during the past two hundred and fifty years, and discusses the problems posed by changing demographics

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

Publisher

University of Virginia Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813912571

ISBN 13

9780813912578

Keeping Together in Time: Dance and Drill in Human History

By: William H. McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Keeping Together in Time: Dance and Drill in Human History

By: William H. McNeill

Could something as simple and seemingly natural as falling into step have marked us for evolutionary success? In Keeping Together in Time one of the most widely read and respected historians in America pursues the possibility that coordinated rhythmic movement--and the shared feelings it evokes--has been a powerful force in holding human groups together. As he has done for historical phenomena as diverse as warfare, plague, and the pursuit of power, William H. McNeill brings a dazzling breadth and depth of knowledge to his study of dance and drill in human history. From the records of distant and ancient peoples to the latest findings of the life sciences, he discovers evidence that rhythmic movement has played a profound role in creating and sustaining human communities. The behavior of chimpanzees, festival village dances, the close-order drill of early modern Europe, the ecstatic dance-trances of shamans and dervishes, the goose-stepping Nazi formations, the morning exercises of factory workers in Japan--all these and many more figure in the bold picture McNeill draws. A sense of community is the key, and shared movement, whether dance or military drill, is its mainspring. McNeill focuses on the visceral and emotional sensations such movement arouses, particularly the euphoric fellow-feeling he calls muscular bonding. These sensations, he suggests, endow groups with a capacity for cooperation, which in turn improves their chance of survival. A tour de force of imagination and scholarship, Keeping Together in Time reveals the muscular, rhythmic dimension of human solidarity. Its lessons will serve us well as we contemplate the future of the human community and of ourvarious local communities.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

220

Publisher

ACLS History E-Book Project

Published Date

ISBN 10

159740294X

ISBN 13

9781597402941

The Pursuit of Truth

A Historian's Memoir

By: William Hardy McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Pursuit of Truth

A Historian's Memoir

By: William Hardy McNeill

William H. McNeill’s seminal book The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community (1963) received the National Book Award in 1964 and was named one of the 100 best nonfiction books of the twentieth century by the Modern Library. From his post at the University of Chicago, McNeill became the first contemporary North American historian to write world history in the light of anthropological, epidemiological, and technological ideas. A candid, intellectual memoir from one of the most famous and influential historians of our era, The Pursuit of Truth maps the life and career of a man who changed the way the discipline of history is understood and taught in America.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

218

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813123453

ISBN 13

9780813123455

The Human Condition

An Ecological and Historical View

By: William Hardy McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Human Condition

An Ecological and Historical View

By: William Hardy McNeill

A distinguished scholar and the well-known author of The Rise of the West and Plagues and Peoples, William McNeill has won widespread recgonition for his ideas on the role of disease in history. In this elegantly and incisively written work, originally delivered as the Bland-Lee Lactures at Clark University, he provides a provocative interpretation in world history using the concept of parasitism. By comparing the biological organisms that compete with human beings for food or feed directly upon them ("microparasites") with those people or groups who seize goods or compel services from other human beings ("macroparasites"), Professor McNeill shows how changes in the patterns of parasitism have affected human populations in different regions of the world throughout history. The author identifies three landmarks of human ecological history when systematic changes in the balances between microparasites and macroparasites occured: the advance of our ancestors to the apex of the food chain, the human penetration of the colder and dryer zones of the earth, and the establishment of the agriculture. In an espeically revealing discussion of this last landmark, he shows how human efforts to achieve successful farming increased human vulnerability to infection. Irrigation and the use of the plow created sewage and water supply problems that in turn brought on new and intensified forms of parasites. In addition, food harvested and store for use throughout the year became vulnerable to rats, mice, insects, and molds. These advances not only increased the number and variety of microparasites; they also opened the way for macroparasites, that is, the transfer of food by those who produce it to those who produce it to those who consume it without themselves having worked in the fields. What then began as a symbiotic relationship quickly became an exploitative one. As the author points out, the high yield and dependability of irrigation plowing tied farmers to the land quite effectually and made such populations easy targets for tax and rent collectors. Hence human society in its civilized form came to be fundamentally divided between hosts and parasites, the ruled and the rulers. Against this conceptual background of the enveloping balances between microparasites and macroparasites that have limited human access to food and energy, Profesor McNeill draws a new historical picture of the human condition. In doing so, he considers the development of command versus market economics in the mobilization of human and material resources, and speculates about the direction in which these resources are coordinated today. William H. McNeill is Robert A. Millikan Distinguished Service Professor of History at the University of Chicago. Originally published in 1980. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691657092

ISBN 13

9780691657097

The Global Condition

Conquerors, Catastrophes, and Community

By: William Hardy McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Global Condition

Conquerors, Catastrophes, and Community

By: William Hardy McNeill

William H. McNeill is known for his ability to portray the grand sweep of history. Now two of his popular books and an essay previously unavailable in book form are brought together in this new paperback edition. In The Human Condition McNeill provides a provocative interpretation of history as a competition of parasites, both biological and human. In The Great Frontier he questions the notion of "frontier freedom" through an examination of European expansion. The concluding essay speculates on the role of catastrophe in our lives. About The Human Condition: "A remarkable tour de force . . . . An elegant, intelligent and scholarly essay."--J. H. Hexter, The New York Times Book Review "A brilliant new interpretation of world history."--David Graber, The Los Angeles Times Book Review About The Great Frontier: There is virtually no one in the profession who can match McNeill as a synthesizer--or, for that matter, as an interdisciplinary historian. . . . There is more insight in this volume than in others of double or triple the length."--David Courtwright, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

196

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691025592

ISBN 13

9780691025599

The Human Web

A Bird's-eye View of World History

By: John Robert McNeill,William Hardy McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Human Web

A Bird's-eye View of World History

By: John Robert McNeill,William Hardy McNeill

Why did the first civilizations emerge when and where they did? How did Islam become a unifying force in the world of its birth? What enabled the West to project its goods and power around the world from the fifteenth century on? Why was agriculture invented seven times and the steam engine just once?World-historical questions such as these, the subjects of major works by Jared Diamond, David Landes, and others, are now of great moment as global frictions increase. In a spirited and original contribution to this quickening discussion, two renowned historians, father and son, explore the webs that have drawn humans together in patterns of interaction and exchange, cooperation and competition, since earliest times. Whether small or large, loose or dense, these webs have provided the medium for the movement of ideas, goods, power, and money within and across cultures, societies, and nations. From the thin, localized webs that characterized agricultural communities twelve thousand years ago, through the denser, more interactive metropolitan webs that surrounded ancient Sumer, Athens, and Timbuktu, to the electrified global web that today envelops virtually the entire world in a maelstrom of cooperation and competition, J. R. McNeill and William H. McNeill show human webs to be a key component of world history and a revealing framework of analysis. Avoiding any determinism, environmental or cultural, the McNeills give us a synthesizing picture of the big patterns of world history in a rich, open-ended, concise account.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

378

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

039305179X

ISBN 13

9780393051797

The Great Frontier

Freedom and Hierarchy in Modern Times

By: William Hardy McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Great Frontier

Freedom and Hierarchy in Modern Times

By: William Hardy McNeill

A leading American historian examines the character of the frontiers of European expansion throughout the modern age, questioning a notion of frontier freedom popular since Turner. William McNeill argues that social hierarchy characterized the frontier more often than pioneer equality. As Europeans traveled to various lands, bringing new diseases to vulnerable natives, formerly isolated populations died in great numbers, creating an "open" frontier where labor was scarce. European efforts to develop frontier areas involved either a radical leveling of the hierarchies common in Europe itself or, alternatively, their sharp reinforcement by resort to slavery, serfdom, peonage, and indentured labor. Juxtaposing national and transnational experiences and illuminating the complex interchange of peoples (and illnesses) in the modern era, Professor McNeill brings the history of the United States into perspective as an example of a process that encircled the globe. His book clarifies both the experience of the global frontier and the processes that now mark the end of hundreds of year of expansion of the European center. William H. McNeill is Robert A. Millikan Distinguished Service Professor of History at the University of Chicago. His numerous books include The Rise of the West (Chicago); Plagues and Peoples (Doubleday); and The Human Condition (Princeton). Originally published in 1983. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691657084

ISBN 13

9780691657080

Russia's Iron Age

By: William Henry Chamberlin

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Russia's Iron Age

By: William Henry Chamberlin

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

685

Publisher

Read Books Ltd

Published Date

ISBN 10

1473382084

ISBN 13

9781473382084

The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945-1951

Arab Nationalism, the United States, and Postwar Imperialism

By: William Roger Louis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945-1951

Arab Nationalism, the United States, and Postwar Imperialism

By: William Roger Louis

With intellectual rigor and careful attention to recently released papers, Wm. Roger Louis's study asks: Why did Britain's colonial empire begin to collapse in 1945 and how did the post-war Labour government attempt to sustain a vision of the old Empire through imperialism in the Middle East?

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

828

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198229607

ISBN 13

9780198229605

The Human Web

A Bird's-eye View of World History

By: John Robert McNeill,William Hardy McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Human Web

A Bird's-eye View of World History

By: John Robert McNeill,William Hardy McNeill

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

378

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

039305179X

ISBN 13

9780393051797

The Human Condition

An Ecological and Historical View

By: William Hardy McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Human Condition

An Ecological and Historical View

By: William Hardy McNeill

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691657092

ISBN 13

9780691657097

Killing Hope

US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II

By: William Blum

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Killing Hope

US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II

By: William Blum

Is the United States a force for democracy? From China in the 1940s to Guatemala today, William Blum presents a comprehensive study of American covert and overt interference, by one means or another, in the internal affairs of other countries. Each chapter of the book covers a year in which the author takes one particular country case and tells the story - and each case throws light on particular US tactics of intervention.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

476

Publisher

Zed Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1842773690

ISBN 13

9781842773697

The Battle of New Market

By: William C. Davis

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Battle of New Market

By: William C. Davis

In this book, William C. Davis narrates one of the most memorable and crucial of the engagements fought for control of the strategically vital Shenandoah Valley -- a battle that centered on the farming community of New Market. There, Confederate forces under the command of General John C. Breckinridge defeated the numerically superior army commanded by the Union's hapless General Franz Sigel. Outnumbered by a margin of four to one at the beginning of the conflict, Breckinridge was desperate for additional men. He sent out a call for assistance to the Virginia Military Institute, and the school responded by sending 258 members of its Corps of Cadets into battle -- some of them as young as fifteen years old. In the action that followed, 57 of them would be killed or wounded. In vivid detail, The Battle of New Market tells of Breckinridge's audacious domination of the battlefield and of Sigel's tragic ineptitude; of the opposing troops, both seasoned and untried; of the fate of prisoners and of the wounded; and, perhaps most memorably, of the gallantry of the cadets who marched from the classrooms of VMI directly into the heat of battle.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

284

Publisher

LSU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807110787

ISBN 13

9780807110782

The Global Condition

Conquerors, Catastrophes, and Community

By: William Hardy McNeill

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Global Condition

Conquerors, Catastrophes, and Community

By: William Hardy McNeill

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

171

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691086486

ISBN 13

9780691086484

Book's by William Hardy McNeill

Plagues and Peoples

Plagues and Peoples

The Rise of the West

The Rise of the West

Population and Politics Since 1750

Population and Politics Since 1750

Keeping Together in Time: Dance and Drill in Human History

Keeping Together in Time: Dance and Drill in Human History

The Pursuit of Truth

The Pursuit of Truth

The Human Condition

The Human Condition

The Global Condition

The Global Condition

The Human Web

The Human Web

The Great Frontier

The Great Frontier

Russia's Iron Age

Russia's Iron Age

The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945-1951

The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945-1951

The Human Web

The Human Web

The Human Condition

The Human Condition

Killing Hope

Killing Hope

The Battle of New Market

The Battle of New Market

The Global Condition

The Global Condition

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email