Acknowledgements
Setting the Stage
Act One: The Origins of the Human Community: Learning to Cooperate (from earliest times to 3500 B.C.E)
Setting the Stage
Scene 1: Gathering and Hunting: Humans Share Resources
Scene 2: Revolutionary Changes Brought by Agriculture
Scene 3: Pastoralism: An Alternative Lifestyle
Critics Corner
Act Two: Surplus, Specialization, and Cities (third millenium B.C.E)
Setting the Stage
Scene 1: City-States in Mesopotamia
Scene 2: Pernanence and Peace Along the Nile
Scene 3: City Planning in the Indus Valley
Scene 4: Settlements Along the Yellow River
Scene 5: Manufacturers and Traders in the Aegean
Critics Corner
Act Three: Nomadic Migrations and Invasions (second millenium B.C.E)
Setting the Stage
Scene 1: Nomadic Invasions in West Asia
Scene 2: Transformations in the Nile Valley
Scene 3: The Aryans in India
Scene 4: China Under the Shang and Zhou Dynasties
Scene 5: Mycenaeans and Dorians in Greece
Critics Corner
Act Four: The Axial Age (700–500 B.C.E)
Setting the Stage
Scene 1: The Axial Age in West Asia
Scene 2: The Axial Age in India
Scene 3: The Axial Age in China
Scene 4: The Axial Age in Greece
Critics Corner
Act Five: Establishing a Synthesis in the Age of Empires (500 B.C.E to 500 C.E.)
Setting the Stage
Scene 1: Establishing a Synthesis in the Eastern Mediterranean World
Scene 2: India: A Synthesis of Ideas
Scene 3: China Defines Itself as the People of Han
Scene 4: The Triumph of Law and the Military in the Roman Empire
Scene 5: Roads and Routes Across Afro-Eurasia
Scene 6: Why Don’t Empires Last?
Critics Corner
Illustration Sources
Quotation Sources
Index
About the Authors