Through its fluent global coverage, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World provides information about major world developments from 1750 to the present, with close attention to social, economic, cultural, and political topics.
The Encyclopedia contains articles on world events; countries; organizations; regions; ethnic groups; and themes such as social history, demography, family life, politics, economics, religion, thought, education, science and technology, and culture. It offers coverage of standard geographic and ethnic units—such as Scandinavia, Korea, or the Gypsies—in the modern period. Significant institutions such as the International Red Cross and the League of Nations are treated at length. Comprehensive coverage enables readers to broaden their research outside a particular time or region and to explore topics within the context of modern world history.
With eight volumes containing over 2,000 A-Z entries, the Encyclopedia benefits from the vast outpouring of work on world history in the modern period and on related area-studies. Informative articles by an array of leading scholars offer an unprecedented breadth of information relating to the modern world. Each article includes an up-to-date bibliography to help interested readers take their research further. In addition, the text is complemented by 700 images and 50 maps, making the Encyclopedia a powerful resource for scholars and students alike.
Peter N. Stearns, editor in chief, is a Provost and Professor of History at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. He is the author of 35 books, including Western Civilization in World History (2003), Anxious Parents: A History of Childrearing in America (2003), Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West (2002), and Cultures in Motion: Mapping Key Contacts and Their Imprint in World History (2001), and has served as editor of The Encyclopedia of World History, 6th ed. (Houghton Mifflin, 2001) and The Encyclopedia of European Social History (Scribners, 2001). Professor Stearns is chair of the AP World History Development Committee and edits The Journal of Social History. He is past Vice President of the American Historical Association (Teaching Division).