The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-first Century

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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Jan 25, 2000 - History - 272 pages
"Ambitious.... The truth is that Fromkin's outline is persuasively thought out and presented."--The Washington Post Book World

As the human race approaches the 21st century, questions of our past trouble us as much as those that concern our future. How did we get here? Where--and how--did Homo sapiens originate? How did we, precariously bipedal, come to dominate the animal kingdom, direct the flow of the Euphrates, fly a rocket to the moon?

David Fromkin, author of A Peace to End All Peace and finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critic Circle Award, provides an arrestingly cogent answer in The Way of the World. With insight and sound scholarship, he reveals how human culture has evolved according to the principles of self-determination--from the footsteps of the first hominids 3.5 million years ago to the efforts of contemporary democracies' to establish a global, lasting peace. Here is a world history wherein early forms of Christianity give way to rationalism, the tyranny of kings crumbles to the merits of representative government, and modern science presents us with the master key to the future. Refreshingly positive, David Fromkin reminds us of the astounding record of human achievement, and the potential in each of us to improve the way of our world.

"Mr. Fromkin recounts 'the greatest story ever told' exceedingly well, aided by a deep knowledge and an elegant prose style."--The Wall Street Journal

"The Way of the World is worldly, civilized, genial."--The Boston Globe

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Contents

Becoming Human
3
Inventing Civilization
26
Developing a Conscience
45
Copyright

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About the author (2000)

David Henry Fromkin was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 27, 1932. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago and a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School. He worked as a lawyer and investor until becoming a published author in his 40s and a professor in his 60s. He wrote seven books including The Question of Government: An Inquiry into the Breakdown of Modern Political Systems; A Peace to End All Peace; In the Time of the Americans: F.D.R., Truman, Eisenhower, Marshall, MacArthur - the Generation that Changed America's Role in the World; Kosovo Crossing: The Reality of American Intervention in the Balkans; Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914?; and The King and the Cowboy: Theodore Roosevelt and Edward the Seventh, Secret Partners. He was a professor at Boston University from 1994 until 2013. He died from heart failure on June 11, 2017 at the age of 84.

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