Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents: Part 4: Interconnections and their consequences 900-1500: 15. Calamities and recoveries across Afroeurasia, 1300-1500 -- Part 5: The great world convergence 1450-1550: 16. Oceans crossed, worlds connected, 1450-1550 -- 17. Afroeurasia and its powerful states 1500-1600 -- 18. The expanding global economy: expectations and inequalities, 1550-1700 -- 19. The changing balance of wealth and power, 1650-1750 -- Part 6: The modern world takes shape 1750-1914: 20. Waves of revolution, 1720-1830 -- 21. Energy and industrialization, 1750-1850 -- 22. Coping with change in the new industrial era, 1830-1870 -- 23. Capital, technology, and the changing balance of global power, 1860-1914 -- Part 7: The promise and the perils of accelerating change 1890 to the present: 24. Innovation, revolution, and global crisis, 1890-1920 -- 25.Turbulent decades, 1918-1935 -- 26. World war 2 and its aftermath, 1933-1950 -- 27. The global boom and its contradictions, 1945-1975 -- 28. Counter currents of change, 1970 to the present.