World History Books

World history books cover a wide range of subjects, from war to sociology and birth rates. The field of world history examines history from a global perspective and analyzes patterns and cultures across the world. World history books typically cover two major themes: integration and difference. Integration studies how the events in world history have brought people together. Difference analyzes how diversity of humankind is revealed through patterns and divergent cultural traditions.

World history gained popularity in the 1980s because of the globalization of the world's economy. As production and the Internet have slowly decreased the size of the world, business and relationships with different communities across the globe are no more than a phone call or email away. Books on the subject look at how this has shaped the world as we know it and how it will affect future generations.

"Big History"
World history is similar to the idea of "big history." The idea of big history was first introduced in the late 1980s, as world history courses replaced traditional "Western civilization" classes. Like world history, "big history" examines global trends on a large scale across time lines to pick out distinct patterns.

From the Big Bang to modern times, big history literally encompasses the entire history of the world. Books covering this have to take world events into account on an extremely macro scale and analyze trends over millions of years. Whether you're looking to learn about the world on a macro or a micro scale, the extremely wide range of books on the market ensures that even most niche subjects have gotten some attention.