Exam Preparation

This is an abridged version of the standard three-volume work on the history of the Byzantine Empire by one of the best historians in the field.

Cracking the AP World History Exam reviews world history topics and includes two full-length practice AP World History tests.

This article was first published in the Fall 2004 edition of the publication Education about Asia. It traces the historical roots of Hinduism through its Vedic tradition, as well as its interaction with Buddhism.

This podcast from the BBC focuses on the history of ideas through discussions with Melvyn Bragg and guests. The history archive includes shows such as "The Death of Elizabeth I - plots, plague and politics," "Akhenaten - history's first individual," and "Magna Carta - foundation of law or rich man's charter?". The podcasts can be accessed using the free Real Player software or downloaded through iTunes.

This essay contains information about India’s historical role in trade and its interactions with other cultures up to the present day.

Also see:
India: A Geographic Sketch
India: A Historical Overview

These lectures by Lynn H. Nelson were produced for a freshman-level course at the University of Kansas. They cover the era from the High Roman Empire through the Age of Discovery.

Braudel is one of the foremost “big picture” social historians in the world. This book covers the rise of the early civilizations (Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Egypt, Crete) through Greece and Rome, not from the standpoint of battles but in terms of the “ebb and flow of cultures.”

This book provides a solid overview of Mesoamerican civilizations in the area that would become Mexico, showing the links between cultures.

This book examines major interactions between cultures from the classical era to 1492, including the ancient silk roads that linked China with the Roman Empire, the spread of world religions, and the Mongol Empire.

This book xplains the main tenets of each of the world’s major faiths/belief systems: Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Accompanying each section are short passages from religious texts, illustrating the points made by the author, who is one of the world’s foremost authorities on comparative religion.