This is an updated and shortened edition of an outstanding treatment of social history that provides students with a vivid and approachable account of what life was like throughout human history. It provides students with one of the most vivid and approachable accounts of what life was like throughout the entire course of human history. It features lively, descriptive writing, a range of illustrations and extensive primary sources that give voice to a wide variety of individuals. The new updated edition incorporates the latest scholarship, has been reorganised and shortened to make the text less unwieldy, includes new illustrations, and contains expanded treatment of non-European societies and cultures, gender, and cross-cultural comparisons and connections.This is an updated and shortened new edition of an outstanding treatment of social history featuring lively writing and extensive primary sources that give voice to a wide range of individuals. Combined with political, cultural, and economic coverage it provides students with a vivid and approachable account of what life was like throughout human history.