An excellent array of articles, offering a powerfully written overview of the field of world history. It's an immense topic, but the work focuses in on specific thematic aspects and main historiographical issues, in a detailed, up to date and deeply intriguing account. The piece is interesting partly in terms of which earlier historians are continually references in their different attempts at a total perspective, most recurrent seem to be Wells, Toynbee and McNeil. The account generally offers a perspective on world history that emphasizes the immense challenges in it as well as the great potential. Also provides a compelling argument for attempting to move beyond Eurocentric paradigms, needing to better integrate earlier "prehistory" and the benefit of working in gender analysis to such accounts more effectively.