The Global Condition: Conquerors, Catastrophes, and Community *
William H. McNeill is known for his ability to portray the grand sweep of history. The Global Condition is a classic work for understanding the grand sweep of world history in brief compass. Now with a new foreword by J. R. McNeill, this book brings together two of William Hardy McNeill’s popular short books and an essay. The Human Condition provides a provocative interpretation of history as a competition of parasites, both biological and human; The Great Frontier questions the notion of “frontier freedom” through an examination of European expansion; the concluding essay speculates on the role of catastrophe in our lives.
Críticas
«A remarkable tour de force . . . . An elegant, intelligent and scholarly essay.»—J. H. Hexter, New York Times Book Review
«A brilliant new interpretation of world history.»—David Graber, Los Angeles Times Book Review
«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
«How refreshing in this era of foreboding to read an informed analysis of human prospects ending on a positive note that we are the creators rather than the creatures of our destiny.»—L.S. Stavrianos, Journal of World History
Contents
Foreword
Preface
PARTI
The Great Frontier:
FREEDOM AND HIERARCHY IN MODERN TIMES
Acknowledgments
Lccture I: To 1750
Lecturc II: From 1750
PARTII
The Fluman Condition:
AN ECOLOGICA! AND HISTORICA! VIEW
Acknowledgments
Microparasitism, Macroparasitism, and the
Urban Transmutación
Microparasitism, Macroparasitism, and the Commercial
Transmutation
PARTIII
Control and Catastrophe in Human Affairs
Notes
Index
