Taking sides. Clashing views on controversial issues in world civilizations / edited, selected, and with introductions by Joseph R. Mitchell [and others].
v. 1. From ancient times to the rise of national states. Did Homo sapiens originate in Africa? ; Did Egyptian civilization originate in Africa? ; Did Greek civilization have Semitic and African origins? ; Did the benefits of the First Emperor of China's rule outweigh the human costs? ; Did Christianity liberate women? ; Did the Roman Empire collapse under its own weight? ; Does the ninth century mark the end of the Dark Ages? ; Does the modern university have its roots in the Islamic world? ; Were environmental factors responsible for the collapse of the Mayan civilization? ; Were the Crusades an early example of Western imperialism? ; Did women and men benefit equally from the Renaissance? ; Should Christopher Columbus be considered a hero? ; Did Calvinism lay the foundation for democracy in Europe? ; Did Tokugawa policies strengthen Japan? ; Did Oliver Cromwell advance political freedom in seventeenth-century England? ; Did Indian Emperor Aurangzeb's rule mark the beginning of Mughal decline? ; Did Peter the Great exert a positive influence on the development of Russia? -- v. 2. From the rise of national states to the present. Did the rise of the West define the modern world? ; Was the Scientific Revolution revolutionary? ; Did internal political factionalism end Chinese overseas expansion in the fifth century? ; Was the French Revolution worth its human costs? ; Did the Industrial Revolution lead to a sexual revolution? ; Was Confucianism responsible for China's failure to modernize? ; Did the Meiji Restoration destroy traditional Japanese values? ; Was economic motivation the key factor behind nineteenth-century imperialism? ; Was German militarism and diplomacy responsible for World War I? ; Did the Bolshevik Revolution improve the lives of Soviet women? ; Was the German national spirit of the 1930s responsible for the Holocaust? ; Did the Soviet Union provoke the Cold War? ; Does Islamic revivalism threaten a secular world order? ; Will history look favorably upon Mikhail Gorbachev? -- Should Africa's leaders be blamed for the continent's current problems? ; Has the United Nations outlived its usefulness? ; Is western civilization in a state of decline?
