Peter N. Stearns is Provost and Professor of History at George Mason University. He is Series Editor for Routledge's Themes in World History and founder and editor of the Journal of Social History.

1. Introduction: what and why is world history? 2. A World History Skeleton 3. Habits of Mind in World History 4. Managing Time: Choosing and Evaluating World History Periods 5. Managing Space: Choosing and Evaluating World History Regions 6. Managing Space and Time: Civilizations 7. Contacts and the Structure of World History 8. Topics in World History 9. Disputes in World History 10. World History in the Contemporary Era. Glossary.