First published as the cover story of Foreign Affairs, Fall 1982, 61(1), 1–13, and republished here on the centenary of the author's birth, 31 October 2017. The Care and Repair of Public Myth By W. H. McNeill Myth lies at the basis of human society. That is because myths are general statements about the world and its parts, and
Berkshire Publishing will be at the World History Association (WHA) conference in Boston this week to talk about our books and our authors, especially our dear friend the late Bill (William H.) McNeill. Here's a short video in which Bill talks about how he came to write The Rise of the West: “My history had always been the
William H. (Bill) McNeill (1917-2016) continued to write for decades after his retirement from the University of Chicago. He published several books, including The Human Web, with his son J. R. McNeill, and an autobiography called The Pursuit of Truth. In that book he details his experiences on the 1992 Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission. Bill was
I write today to share the sad news that William H. (Bill) McNeill died on Friday, 8 July 2016. He was 98 years old, and rooting for Roger Federer at Wimbledon right until the end. Bill and I worked together for many years, and he was the senior editor of Berkshire's major publication, the Berkshire Encyclopedia
David Christian explains what big history is and how it helps to make sense of the world we live in and to see all that we have in common, and talks about his 2002 meeting with interviewer Karen Christensen at the home of William H. McNeill (1917-2016). They discuss the development of national histories
Our bestselling little big history, This Fleeting World, is going to Asia in new international editions, and, as ever, it's ready for summer reading in English!
Berkshire Publishing Group is delighted to announce that its major multi-volume reference titles will be available from Oxford University Press. These titles are being added to the Oxford Reference platform: Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, Second Edition The renowned Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History provides an integrated view of human and universal history. Environmental and social issues are examined by
My daughter Rachel, who works at Berkshire Publishing, is a great fan of audio books and has been pushing me for ages to develop some audio content. I'm thinking first of an audio version of our short bestseller This Fleeting World but it occurred to me that many of our historical articles and biographies might make
When I look at the New York Times and half the headlines are about Greece, I wonder if the world has gone nuts. Then I get a lecture on the European Union and the role of Germany, and international lending and globalization, and social welfare. But, I argue, there are a lot more important places, and bigger
Berkshire Publishing’s tagline is about to change, but before we make the switch I’d like to explain why we have been, for ten years, “A global point of reference.” This was partly a play on two meanings of the word reference. In early days, we were known for our encyclopedias – reference books that lived in the reference
