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Leading historians and archaeologists offer a comprehensive introduction to the increasingly entangled worlds that spanned the globe between 600 and 1350 CE.The period between the seventh and fourteenth centuries is hardly thought of as an era of globalization. Entire societies in the Americas, Australia, and Oceania developed in relative isolation from other parts of the world. Even on the interconnected landmass of Eurafrasia, many people had little to do with processes of transregional exchange.Yet the period 600–1350 CE in fact witnessed an explosion of connectivity amid the consolidation of sophisticated approaches to human organization. Flows of people, goods, and ideas across regional boundaries intensified, changing lives at all social levels, from rulers to the enslaved. In the Americas, large cities and north-south trade networks took shape. The Arabic-Islamic conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries, along with the Mongol expansion of the thirteenth, tied together diverse polities from southeast Asia to sub-Saharan Africa. Regions also became more culturally and politically integrated: Latin-Christian models of social organization spread across Europe; the Sinitic written language drew eastern Eurasia into a common elite culture; and the accumulation of significant agricultural surpluses in the Indian subcontinent supported the emergence of a settled political order.Entangled Worlds sees the completion of the magisterial six-volume set A History of the World, offering an authoritative introduction to a vibrant era of global history. The distinguished contributors make clear that there never was a stagnant “Middle Ages” wedged between Antiquity and Modernity but instead a period defined by decisive strides toward global connection, urbanization, and the cultural and political formations we live with today.

The Hand Behind Unmanned tells the fascinating story of the people, processes, and beliefs that led to the contemporary American unmanned arsenal. It takes an expansive look at automated and autonomous technologies, from mines and torpedoes, to guided bombs and missiles, satellites, and ultimately drones. Instead of asking the question:'why unmanned rather than manned,'the book explains why certain types of unmanned systems became popular while others languished in research or in small pockets of the American military. In order to answer this question, Jacquelyn Schneider and Julia Macdonald use interviews of senior decisionmakers, military doctrine and writings, and historical sources to detail the proliferation of over a hundred years of unmanned weapons in the US arsenal, from mines and balloons to Reapers and Global Hawks. Their exploration reveals how multiple factors--key policy entrepreneurs, like Andy Marshall in the Office of Net Assessment; critical junctures like the fall of the USSR or the 9/11 attacks; beliefs that emerged in the wake of the Vietnam War; and US military service culture--all interacted in complex ways to form today's unmanned arsenal. The Hand Behind Unmanned uses theories of organizational innovation and process tracing of historical cases to explain recent developments, including US precision munition shortfalls and the rise of unmanned aerial platforms. It also foreshadows where the US unmanned arsenal may be headed in the future. Ultimately, the book uses a remarkable case study to illustrate how ideas diffuse across people and organizations to build the weapons of modern warfare.

This book focuses on alternative definitions of landscape in archaeology, particularly those that explicitly address landscapes'political aspects. In doing so, this volume emphasizes the non-static, dialogic nature of landscape within a community and acknowledges how a community's composition and its relationship with the landscape can lead to tensions and even violent conflicts with other groups. It highlights the relevance of considering movement, borders, and conflict as sources for understanding how people create their own landscapes and how they reshape them in times of political conflict. For example, in contexts of colonization and war, people are forced to adapt to new politics and hierarchies as they see their personal and communal understanding of the world deeply transformed, something visible even today as political tensions constantly reshape local and global landscapes. Understanding how landscapes were created and contested in the past is essential for understanding their political, economic, and cultural manifestations in the present in order to better organize ourselves for a truly integrative future.

Archaeology: The Science of the Human Past introduces students to the wide-ranging and fascinating world of archaeology and provides them with a comprehensive understanding of fundamental archaeological concepts and methods.The seventh edition keeps pace with the developments in archaeological science with up-to-date information on dating, artifact analyses, and remote sensing. Theoretical developments in power, gender, and cognition are also included. Introducing the key components of archaeology, including sites, artifacts, ecofacts, remote sensing, and excavation, it discusses the ways archaeologists obtain, analyze, and interpret evidence. Varying perspectives are considered to provide holistic coverage of how archaeological techniques and methods are used to formulate and test models of what happened in the past. Cultural resource management and the laws and regulations that deal with archaeology around the world are described. Archaeology is placed in the context of current topics, from environmental problems to issues affecting Indigenous populations.Archaeology: The Science of the Human Past remains an ideal introduction to archaeology by offering students a broad and clear understanding of the theoretical and scientific aspects of archaeology and how various archaeological perspectives and techniques help us comprehend not just the past but the contemporary world as well.

Save time and money with two books in one! Half pharmacology, half dosage calculations —plus an intensive, yet clear & simple review of basic math and online quizzing! Here's the must-have knowledge and guidance students need to gain a solid understanding of pharmacology and the safe administration of medications in one text. A body systems approach to pharmacology with a basic math review and a focus on drug classifications prepare them to administer specific drugs in the clinical setting.