This introduction to the history of oil tells the story of how petroleum shaped human life since it was first discovered leaking inconspicuously from the soil. Leading environmental history specialist Brian C. Black connects the subsequent exploitation of petroleum to patterns in world history while tracing the intricate links between energy and people after 1850. --from publisher description

Take a trip Down Under . . . and into the past. Australia has one of the longest and richest histories of any place on the planet, dating back tens of thousands of years. Aboriginal people continue to have a large influence on Australian culture, even in the centuries since Europeans arrived. Today, Australia is a vibrant home to a growing multi-cultural population, but it retains its own unique character. Find out how the events and people of the...

Change has been constant in India over the millennia, but some things have remained the same throughout that time. Early India was a collection of smaller kingdoms across its vast landscape. The effects of Hinduism began then and were deep and lasting, continuing to the present day. The impact of Islam had a large effect on India, overshadowed only by the long colonization by Great Britain. All these events, touching the lives of the great and the...

The history of the lands in Central and South America is split between the centuries before and after the arrival of Europeans. Prior to that time, vast civilizations lived and thrived in the rainforests, mountains, and deserts of these diverse lands. Since the arrival of Europeans, the nations have taken on a mixed nature that tries to bring the best and strongest of the old and blend it with aspects of the modern. Inside, meet the people who created...

At the top and bottom of the world are enormous areas of . . . nothing. Virtually no life exists in the frozen wastelands of the North and South Poles. However, the human spirit of adventure and discovery-to say nothing of the desire to tap into natural resources-led people to try and conquer the icy lands. Inside, read about the courageous and daring explorers who first opened up the poles to scientific discovery. Then see how the world's nations...

This concise and engaging book argues that the Cold War and anti-colonial movements should properly be studied and taught together, not as distinct developments, but rather as interwoven aspects of a complex global transformation. The authors provide a cogent and concise description of the post—World War II era and reveal connective dimensions of that era that remain hidden in books that focus primarily on either the Cold War or the struggles against...