Introduction
Required Textbook
The required textbook for the course is World History: Human Legacy by Susan Elizabeth Ramírez, Peter Stearns, and Sam Wineburg (Holt McDougal, 2010, ISBN-13: 978-0-55-401861- 4).
This clearly written, well-organized textbook provides, in an easily accessible manner, the information you’ll need to successfully complete our journey through human history. Its many special features (e.g., “The Inside Story,” “Faces of History,” “Reading Like a Historian,” and the many interactive activities at go.hrw.com) offer you the opportunity to reflect on, compare, and evaluate the people, places, and events you’ll encounter on our journey. In addition, the many fine maps and time lines at the beginning of each textbook chapter will help you place each chapter’s information in time and space.
Plan to devote some of your study time to these excellent textbook features. The perspectives you’ll gain from them will prove invaluable to the quality of your learning experience; they’ll help improve your understanding and retention of the course material.
Note the textbook chapters are divided into sections and we will maintain those section divisions in the lesson discussions.
Interactive Features
Throughout the textbook, you’ll find prompts to visit Holt McDougal’s website at go.hrw.com. Here you’ll find numerous interactive features directly related to the textbook’s content.
To access the online content, you must enter the keyword that accompanies each prompt in the textbook (every prompt has its own keyword). For example, see the “Section 1 Assessment” on page 11. There you will find the keyword “SHL BEG HP”—type that keyword (exactly as it appears) in the “GO Resources” box on the “Think Central” web page and click Search to access online quizzes, activities, and more for chapter 1.
