Covering more than 5,000 years of civilization in small, easy-to-digest bits, this accessible handbook chronicles the rise and fall of cultures and empires throughout the Middle East and Africa, the Far East, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania. Using the detailed maps displaying the ever-shifting populations and geopolitical divides, you can trace humanity's struggles and achievements from Sumerian farmers in 3500 BC to the state of the globe at the end of World War II. (SM)