The West and the World engages students and provokes discussion by presenting the past through the prism of current and perennial issues. Interpretive chapters on such topics as gender, religion, war, ecology, and nationalism create both thematic narratives and the strands of a larger chronological account. The book makes great ideas accessible, explores major historical turning points, and reveals the dynamic of increasing global interactions (trade, migrations, etc.). It also compares cultures and civilizations while giving voice to individual lives. This second part of the series explores economics and ecology, racism and nationalism, individuality and mass culture up to the present day. This volume may be purchased separately or together with its companion volume, The West and the World: A History of Civilization, Vol. I: From the Ancient World to 1700.