"No work in this genre [macro-history] is better than David Christian's Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History.... [I]t is a brilliantly executed act of provocation." - The Times "Forges bold and ingenious connections between the physical and social sciences." - The Age "A good read, a fascinating prospectus for a new kind of history." - American Scientist"

David Christian is Professor in the Department of History at San Diego State University. He is the author of Living Water: Vodka and Russian Society on the Eve of Emancipation (1990), Imperial and Soviet Russia: Power, Privilege and the Challenge of Modernity (1997), and A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia: Volume 1: Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire (1998).

List of Illustrations List of Tables Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction: A Modern Creation Myth? PART I. THE INANIMATE UNIVERSE 1. The First 300,000 Years: Origins of the Universe, Time, and Space 2. Origins of the Galaxies and Stars: The Beginnings of Complexity 3. Origins and History of the Earth PART II. LIFE ON EARTH 4. The Origins of Life and the Theory of Evolution 5. The Evolution of Life and the Biosphere PART III. EARLY HUMAN HISTORY: MANY WORLDS 6. The Evolution of Humans 7. The Beginnings of Human History PART IV. THE HOLOCENE: FEW WORLDS 8. Intensification and the Origins of Agriculture 9. From Power over Nature to Power over People: Cities, States, and "Civilizations" 10. Long Trends in the Era of Agrarian "Civilizations" PART V. THE MODERN ERA: ONE WORLD 11. Approaching Modernity 12. Globalization, Commercialization, and Innovation 13. Birth of the Modern World 14. The Great Acceleration of the Twentieth Century PART VI. PERSPECTIVES ON THE FUTURE 15. Futures Appendix 1. Dating Techniques, Chronologies, and Timelines Appendix 2. Chaos and Order Notes Bibliography Index