Sources of World Societies is a primary source written by Merry Wiesner-Hanks in 2018. It is the first volume of the book and the third edition. The book is designed to accompany McKay and colleagues’ A History of World Societies. Each chapter of the book contains almost five sources, which are either visual or textual, as far as presenting histories of the world societies is concerned. It is also important to note that these sources in every chapter give the history of world societies from different points of view of famous or established figures as well as ordinary people. Each document is supplemented by questions and endnotes to help the reader not only understand the contents but also contextualize it. On the other hand, it has a feature on the “viewpoints,” which highlights three or two sources in every chapter that explains a single topic from different points of view as well. Students also have a chance of attending to comparative questions as far as making the connections between the sources and the modern times.
The primary sources found in this book, Sources of World Societies, can be traced back to prehistoric times when human societies could be considered to be simple and not as complex as now – the time when human societies were organic (organic solidarity), for example, in Chapter 1. These sources capture and present the voices as well as different points of view of different people (ordinary and famous) in their respective times. These variations give the reader an opportunity to understanding different times and history and how those who lived during those times perceived the world.
The use of visual sources in every chapter serves the purpose of enriching the students with the cross-cultural fabrics of the entire man’s history. It also helps the student to develop historical thinking skills since he can clearly understand the context of the sources and supplement it with pictures of the time. These sources in every chapter across the book present a whole society’s perspective by presenting records of members of the society across all social classes, for example, artists, laborers, economists, revolutionaries, philosophers, men and women, and rulers and subjects among others. This makes sure that there is no view about the society that is left out and therefore presenting reliable and valid generalization about world societies.
This book also gives the student an opportunity of accessing an animated past through the various events and accounts that not only illuminated man’s societies but changed the face of world history completely. Some of the storylines in multiple chapters are mythical understanding of events, conflict, and hardship from a local as well as a global perspective, for example, in Chapter 30. It is also important to note that this book, through different sources in each chapter, manages to make the most compelling and classic voices of history accessible to the reader using several established thinkers as well as documentaries. The readers are also treated to formative documents representing each era. For instance, in Chapter 30, readers have an opportunity of comparing and contrasting the press release of President Truman as far as the bombing of Hiroshima is concerned with the experiences of the Japanese victims and survivors as a result of the dropping of the bomb in 1945 towards the end of the Second World War.
It is not surprising that the book does not present any conclusion because of the various chapters in it with different historical accounts from different parts of the world. However, enough background provided gives the reader an opportunity of analyzing the sources provided in each chapter. For instance, the opening paragraphs in every chapter provides a brief overview of the events of the time and demonstrates the importance of the contents of that chapter to the reader. The headnotes provided for each document contextualizes the author as well as the circumstances under which the event happened. The clarification of the events and documentaries is provided by the gloss notes as well. Lastly, discussion and reading questions, as well as comparative questions in every chapter, gives the readers a chance of contemplating the connections within the sources. They also understand the concept of power and how it has been abused in history, for example, in Chapter 14.
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