As with other books in Walch’s Simply History series, it strives to present a brief, even-handed overview of selected highlights. These include:

A Rebirth in Europe - the alterations that marked the end of the medieval period in Europe and the start of the Renaissance as changes in farming and the growth in trade led to new social systems, national structures, and approaches to religion. Including some of the great thinkers and artists of the Renaissance period.

Asia’s Empires - the strong cultures that arose in Japan, China, and India including the Qing and Ming dynasties in China, the Mogul empire in India, and the feudal period in Japan under the shoguns.

European Exploration and the New World - the meeting of East and West brought about by European interest in Asian spices and other goods and how the search for new trade routes led Columbus to the Americas followed by the European drive to explore, seize, and colonize these new lands.

Europe Colonizes the Globe - the results of European exploration, including the rise of European trading economies and the response of China and Japan to European attempts to trade with them including Britain’s role in India after the fall of the Mogul Empire, and the effects of European expansion in Africa.

New Ideas Lead to Revolution - the Enlightenment, a period of new ideas and how they helped inspire revolutions around the world, including in the American colonies, in France, and in Latin America and the governments that followed.

The Industrial Revolution - the series of developments that led to industrialization, first in Britain and then in other countries including the changes in society that came about as a result.

Nationalism and Social Reform - how the social evils of the Industrial Revolution led to different approaches to helping workers achieve fair treatment, the growing sense of national identity in Europe and the drive for expansion in the United States, the struggle to end slavery in the United States, and to give women the right to vote.

Imperialism - the way European powers built empires around the world, including in Africa and southern Asia including the different ways these powers used to take control of other countries and how the conquered nations responded to colonization.