World history 101 : from ancient Mesopotamia and the Viking conquests to NATO and Wikileaks, an essential primer on world history / Tom Head

Includes index.

Intro; Dedication; Introduction; Humanity Before History; Human Civilization in Sumer and Akkad; The First Half of Egypt's Story; Megacities of the Ancient Indus Valley; The Hittites and What They Left Behind; The Pharaohs of Egypt's New Kingdom; The Marsh Empires of Mesopotamia; The Ancient World of the Olmecs; Cyrus the Great and the Achaemenid Dream; The Secrets of Kush; How the Greek City-States United; The Empire of Alexander the Great; The First Emperor of Qin; The Reign of the Emperor Ashoka; The Rise of the Roman Republic; Rome Becomes an Empire; Jesus Christ and His Times China's Six Dynasties PeriodThe Pax Romana and Beyond; India Under the Guptas; The Golden Age of the Mayans; Islam and the New Middle East; The Glory of the Sassanids; The Unity of Japan; The Viking Conquests of Europe; The Holy Roman Emperor; The Great Schism of 1054; The Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition; The Caliphate of Córdoba; The Mystery of Great Zimbabwe; Genghis Khan and the Triumph of the Mongols; The Grisly Harvest of the Black Death; The Holy Sleep of Byzantium; The Golden Age of the Aztecs; Europe and the Colonial Project; The Rise of Protestant Europe; The Age of the Samurai The French Revolution and Its AftermathManifest Destiny and the Americas; Europe in the Age of Napoleon; From Bismarck to the Weimar Republic; The Story of the Ottoman Empire; The Industrialization of the West; Feminism's First Wave; Imperialism and the Modern World; In the Trenches; Triumph of the Bolsheviks; The Three Ages of Modern China; The Terrifying Power of Stalinism; World War II and the End of Progress; Zionism and Israeli Independence; NATO and the Warsaw Pact; The United Nations and Human Rights; Passive Resistance and the Activist Tradition; Twilight of Empires Women's Liberation in the Age of Mass MediaKorea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan; The Neoliberal Order; The Paradox of Iranian Democracy; The Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union; South Africa and the Legacy of Apartheid; Sectarian Conflict in the Post-Cold War World; The Twilight of Western Supremacy; The Future of History; Photographs; Acknowledgments; About the Author; Index; Copyright

Uncover the mysteries of the past with this exciting, comprehensive guide on world history. History books are often filled with long descriptions, complex facts, and stories that can bore even the most enthusiastic history buffs. In World History 101 you'll skip those tedious details and focus on engaging lessons that will impress any kind of historian. From Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan to the Cold War and globalization, each section takes you on an adventure through time to discover the most important moments in history and how they shaped civilization today. With hundreds of absorbing facts and trivia throughout, World History 101 can help you learn more about the civilizations of the past and help bring history to life.