本书以丰富、翔实的历史资料概括性地介绍了整个人类文明6000多年的发展历程,描绘了人类文明在不同的历史时期和地理区域的发展状况及其相互影响。每一章以引言概述该种文明的相关主题,以时间为线索简略而直观地叙述该种文明的兴起和发展以及重要的人物、事件及其历史过程。
本书用非常丰富的珍贵资料,客观、真实地再现了世界文明史上的人物和事件,为读者参与世界文明史的分析和研究留下了一个完全开放的空间。本书所提供的资料**学术价值,除了非常权威的文字资料以外,还配备了极其丰富的绘画、雕刻、制陶、照片、建筑物、纪念碑、硬币、地图等视觉资料,为读者提供了书面文献以外的历史证据。本书还为读者提供了当代学者的研究成果,可供学习者参考、分析和批判。因此,《世界文明史》是读者学习和研究世界文化、世界历史、世界经济、国际关系与国际政治的极为难得的重要文献。

Topical Contents
1 Early Civilizations of Southwestern Asia and Northeastern Africa
2 India, to C.E.500
3 China,to C.E.500
4 The Mediterranean Basin:Greek Civilization
5 The Mediterranean Bain:Roman Civilization and the Origins of Christianity
6 The Rise of Islam
7 India and Southeast Asia,500-1500
8 China and Japan, 500-1500
9 The Mongols, the Turks,and the Middle East,1000-1500
10 The Struggle for Order in the West:Europe's Middle Ages,500-1300
11 Transitions in the West,1300-15000
12 Civilization of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas, to 1500
13 Global Encounters and Cultures in Conflict,1500-1700
14 Europe's Early Modern Era,1500-1789
15 Asia ,1500-1700
16 A world of Reason and Motion:The Scientific Revolution and the Enlihtenment in the West,1600-1800
17 Revolution ,Nationalism ,and the State in Europe, 1789-19143
18 Indeustrilism ,Social Change, and Culture in the West ,1700-1914
19 The Americas,1700-1914
20 Afica,1500-1880
21 Asia, 1700-1914
22 Imperialism and New Global Entanglements,1880-1914
23 War, Revolution and Authoritarianism in the 1914-45
24 Asia and Africa between World Wars Iand II
25 Global Transformation and the Post-World War II Era,1945-89
26 The Present in Perpective and the Beginning of the 21st Century