This shows how basic elements of our civilisation have been developed from their earliest beginnings to the present day. Artwork and simple text present examples of innovation and evolution from many countries. New discoveries are related to the social and political needs that inspired them and to the technologies that made them possible. Crime and Punishment traces the history of law-breakers from the earliest empires to the present day, and looks beyond to the issue of law and order that the world faces in the future.