Patrick Manning: "In sum, I find the book to be an effective overview of the world history literature as it now exists. The author has demonstrated the ability to draw comprehensively on the literature for many topics and regions for his long nineteenth century, and has articulated it in accounts of many large-scale issues. The book presents a multifaceted narrative of approaches, panoramas, and themes. It reaches back before 1800 to trace the origins of the nineteenth-century world, but puts more effort into showing consequences for the twentieth century."