The Origins of the Modern World

A Global and Environmental Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century, Fourth Edition

Robert B. Marks

This clearly written and engrossing book presents a global narrative of the origins of the modern world from 1400 to the present. Unlike most studies, which assume that the “rise of the West” is the story of the coming of the modern world, this history, drawing upon new scholarship on Asia, Africa, and the New World and upon the maturing field of environmental history, constructs a story in which those parts of the world play major roles, including their impacts on the environment. Robert B. Marks defines the modern world as one marked by industry, the nation state, interstate warfare, a large and growing gap between the wealthiest and poorest parts of the world, increasing inequality within the wealthiest industrialized countries, and an escape from the environmental constraints of the “biological old regime.” He explains its origins by emphasizing contingencies (such as the conquest of the New World); the broad comparability of the most advanced regions in China, India, and Europe; the reasons why England was able to escape from common ecological constraints facing all of those regions by the eighteenth century; a conjuncture of human and natural forces that solidified a gap between the industrialized and non-industrialized parts of the world; the mounting environmental crisis that defines the modern world; and the ways in which the forces of globalization stress the economic and political underpinnings of the modern world.

Now in a new edition that brings the saga of the modern world to the present in an environmental context, the book considers how and why the United States emerged as a world power in the twentieth century and became the sole superpower by the twenty-first century, and why the changed relationship of humans to the environmental likely will be the hallmark of the modern era—the Anthopocene. Once again arguing that the US rise to global hegemon was contingent, not inevitable, Marks also points to the resurgence of Asia and the vastly changed relationship of humans to the environment that may in the long run overshadow any political and economic milestones of the past hundred years.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 320 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-5381-2702-5 • Hardback • July 2019 • $89.00 • (£68.00)

978-1-5381-2703-2 • Paperback • July 2019 • $32.00 • (£25.00)

978-1-5381-2704-9 • eBook • July 2019 • $30.00 • (£22.95)

Series: World Social Change

Subjects: History / Modern / General, History / Asia / China, History / United States / General

Courses: History; World History; 21st Century, History; World History; 20th Century, History; U.S. Survey, History; World History; General

The Origins of the Modern World

A Global and Environmental Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century, Fourth Edition

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

This clearly written and engrossing book presents a global narrative of the origins of the modern world from 1400 to the present. Unlike most studies, which assume that the “rise of the West” is the story of the coming of the modern world, this history, drawing upon new scholarship on Asia, Africa, and the New World and upon the maturing field of environmental history, constructs a story in which those parts of the world play major roles, including their impacts on the environment. Robert B. Marks defines the modern world as one marked by industry, the nation state, interstate warfare, a large and growing gap between the wealthiest and poorest parts of the world, increasing inequality within the wealthiest industrialized countries, and an escape from the environmental constraints of the “biological old regime.” He explains its origins by emphasizing contingencies (such as the conquest of the New World); the broad comparability of the most advanced regions in China, India, and Europe; the reasons why England was able to escape from common ecological constraints facing all of those regions by the eighteenth century; a conjuncture of human and natural forces that solidified a gap between the industrialized and non-industrialized parts of the world; the mounting environmental crisis that defines the modern world; and the ways in which the forces of globalization stress the economic and political underpinnings of the modern world.

Now in a new edition that brings the saga of the modern world to the present in an environmental context, the book considers how and why the United States emerged as a world power in the twentieth century and became the sole superpower by the twenty-first century, and why the changed relationship of humans to the environmental likely will be the hallmark of the modern era—the Anthopocene. Once again arguing that the US rise to global hegemon was contingent, not inevitable, Marks also points to the resurgence of Asia and the vastly changed relationship of humans to the environment that may in the long run overshadow any political and economic milestones of the past hundred years.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 320 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-5381-2702-5 • Hardback • July 2019 • $89.00 • (£68.00)

978-1-5381-2703-2 • Paperback • July 2019 • $32.00 • (£25.00)

978-1-5381-2704-9 • eBook • July 2019 • $30.00 • (£22.95)

Series: World Social Change

Subjects: History / Modern / General, History / Asia / China, History / United States / General

Courses: History; World History; 21st Century, History; World History; 20th Century, History; U.S. Survey, History; World History; General

Author

Robert B. Marks is professor emeritus of history and environmental studies at Whittier College. His books include China: Its Environment and History. He is the recipient of Whittier College’s Harry W. Nerhood Teaching Excellence Award.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Maps

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Rise of the West?

The Rise of the West

Eurocentrism

Stories and Historical Narratives

The Elements of an Environmentally Grounded Non-Eurocentric Narrative

Chapter One: The Material and Trading Worlds, circa 1400

The Biological Old Regime

The World and Its Trading System circa 1400

The Black Death: A Mid-Fourteenth-Century Conjuncture

Conclusion: The Biological Old Regime

Chapter Two: Starting with China

China

India and the Indian Ocean

Dar al-Islam, “The Abode of Islam”

Africa

Europe and the Gunpowder Epic

Conclusion

Chapter Three: Empires, States, and the New World, 1500–1775

Empire Builders and Conquerors

The Conquest of the Americas and the Spanish Empire

The New World Economy

Human Migration and the Early Modern World

The Global Crisis of the Seventeenth Century and the European State System

Chapter Four: The Industrial Revolution and Its Consequences, 1750–1850

Cotton Textiles

New Sources of Energy and Power

Coal, Iron, and Steam

Tea, Silver, Opium, Iron, and Steam

Conclusion: Into the Anthropocene

Chapter Five: The Gap

Opium and Global Capitalism

Industrialization Elsewhere

New Dynamics in the Industrial World

Nations and Nationalism

The Scrambles for Africa and China

El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World

Social Darwinism and Self-Congratulatory Eurocentrism

Conclusion

Chapter Six: The Great Departure

Introduction to the Twentieth Century and Beyond

Part I: Nitrogen, Wars, and the First Deglobalization, 1900–1945

Part II: The Post–World War II and Cold War Worlds, 1945–91

Part III: Globalization and Its Opponents, 1991–Present

Part IV: The Great Departure: Into the Anthropocene

Conclusion

Conclusion: Changes, Continuities, and the Shape of the Future

The Story Summarized

Globalization

Into the Future

Notes

Index

About the Author

Reviews

In accessible prose, Robert Marks distills world history of the past six centuries to its essence. Truly global in scope, and fully attentive to environmental contexts, this book is ideal for the classroom: it will provoke both thought and discussion—and occasional disagreement.
— John R. McNeill, Georgetown University

This new edition accentuates the book’s strengths while remaining compact, highly readable, and easy to connect with contemporary concerns. Fair-minded but not bland, it has the potential to spark classroom discussion that conventional textbooks rarely have, while providing a helpful basic narrative around which to organize an appealing world history class.
— Kenneth Pomeranz, University of Chicago

Splendid, fresh, forceful, and efficient. Marks has a clear focus on the Eurocentrism of most of the textbooks on world history, and he has developed an effective, solidly grounded strategy to counter the problem. The ideas are challenging, and the prose is readable and engaging. Ideal for introductory surveys of world history.
— Edward L. Farmer, University of Minnesota

Always the favorite when it comes to incisive world history agenda-setting, The Origins of the Modern World has a fully developed overview, one that is big on humans and the history of the environment and encourages critical thinking on a global scale.
— Edmund Burke III, University of California at Santa Cruz

Terrific! It's far and away the best of its type I've found in over thirty years of teaching. It's clear, succinct, and yet wonderfully comprehensive. It brings together all the current thinking in world history in about as nice a package as can be imagined.
— Paul Solon, Macalester College

I love this book—and more important, students do as well. Nothing beats it for putting global perspectives on the table in a readable and intelligent way.
— Thomas Saylor, Concordia University

By far the best of the current world history books on the market. Its main strengths lie in its non-Eurocentric viewpoint, its clear narrative, and its brevity. I would (and have) unreservedly recommended the book to colleagues teaching in the field as well as to others seeking a quick introduction to the history of the world.
— Sarah Kovner, University of Florida

Features

View the Preface and a Sample Chapter.
- Concise, affordable, and accessible
- Offers students clear tools to use to understand world history narratives
- Provides a comprehensive framework for understanding early modern and modern world history
  Constructs a new, non-Eurocentric explanation of global inequality
- Engages new scholarship on the historical relationship of humans to the natural environment, including climate change
- Includes an on-line study guide

Resources

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Instructor's Manual. For each chapter, this valuable resource provides a variety of tools such as lecture outlines, student learning objectives, discussion questions, and other resources to simplify classroom preparation.

Test Bank. The Test Bank includes a variety of test questions and is available in either Word, PDF or Respondus formats. For every chapter in the text, the Test Bank includes a complete test with a variety of question types, including multiple choice, true false, and essay formats.

Our Test Bank is most flexibly used in Respondus, test authoring software which is available in two forms. Check with your university to see if you have a site license to the full program, Respondus 4.0, which offers the option to upload your tests to any of the most popular course management systems such as Blackboard. If you don’t have a Respondus license or do not care about having your tests in a course management system, you can use our test bank file in Respondus LE. The LE program is free and can be used to automate the process of creating tests in print format. (Please note that Not all test banks are available as a Respondus package.)

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Lecture Notes. The Lecture Notes provide the tables and figures from the text.

The Origins of the Modern World

A Global and Environmental Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century, Fourth Edition

Robert B. Marks

The Origins of the Modern World

A Global and Environmental Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century, Fourth Edition

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