Three Major Eras Of World History In This Fleeting World By David Christian

In This Fleeting World, author David Christian gives the reader a round and precise perspective of world history in a succinct book. Using a different form of periodization than most world historians, he is able to divide world history into 3 major eras along with subordinate eras. This is shown in the “Three Major Eras of World History” Chart on page 103 of the book. This

Fleeting World focuses mostly on technological and social change when talking about the development of societies. For example, a technological advancement is the development of agriculture that was thought to start between the Nile Valley and Mesopotamia (25). He writes about world history with broad and vague strokes by only pointing out the significant details

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According to Christian, the goal of this book was to exploit the “interconnections between people and communities in all eras of human history” (XI) by focusing more on key events and turning points in human history. As described in the preface “Its purpose, in

Christian’s words, should be to ‘explore… the histories of women and men across the entire world, the stories that all humans share because of they are human.’” (XI).

David Christian succeeded in his goal. He solved the organizational aspects of periodization. According to the end chapter about Periodization, Christian’s “organizational aspects of all periodization systems moderately well in its first and third eras” (104). This is agreeable because before each era the author provides the reader with a list of key events in a chart (Era of Foragers­ page 2, The Agrarian Era­ page 26, The Modern Era­ page 59) which helps make the topic more understandable. Also, he teaches the readers using bold headings such as the “Industrial Revolution” on page 68 followed by the 3 waves including developments of new technology like the steam engine, the introduction of locomotives, and things like electricity or steel which helps the readers focus on the main ideas of that time period. As mentioned

In the Era of Foragers, Christian begins with an introduction and description of foragers for those readers who are new to this particular time period followed by a list of processes that historians use to study the era of foragers. Afterwards, there is the intro of how humans first came to be, how they began spreading outward into the world, and how they lived. In the Agrarian Era, Christian also begins with an introduction which includes the Origins of Agricultures. He then writes about the gradual transition of foragers into agriculture, the transition from villages to cities/states, and the slow acceleration in technology and governments.

In the Modern Era, Christian again begins with a little introduction and then progresses into the

Major Features and Trends of the Modern Era followed by the transition from agrarian societies into the modern world. Next, he writes about the Industrial Revolution, economic/cultural changes, the twentieth century crisis, and concludes with the Contemporary Period. All kinds