With its brief, global (rather than West-centered) approach, World History in Brief, Sixth Edition, seeks to show how different civilizations developed in a global context.

Rather than overwhelm students, the chief goal of World History in Brief is to present the big picture, to facilitate comparison and assessment of change, and to highlight the major developments in the world's history. This text also emphasizes the global interactions of major civilizations so that students can compare and assess changes in the patterns of interaction and the impact of global forces such as migration and technology exchange. The compact size of this text gives instructors the opportunity to take advantage of additional supplementary readings.