Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present

In her preface, Brown acknowledges that histories usually begin with the appearance of written records. Her ambition is greater than that as she extends history "to the limits of what is currently knowable by scientific methods, using whatever data and evidence are available, and not limited to written documents." (p. xi) More than a quarter of this small book (29% to be precise) is devoted to the development of the universe from the Big Bang to the emergence of life on our planet and eventually to the appearance of Homo sapiens. The first part of the book goes from 13.7 billion years ago through 10,000 years ago. Her presentation of the story as learned from science will be eye-opening for many people who have not kept up with popular science. When she turns to history proper, her story is not very different from J.R. McNeill and William H. McNeill in their book The Human Web. Instead of the "Old World Web," she speaks of the "Afro-Eurasian Network." She agrees with their emphasis on the role of Columbus in bringing the networks of the world into a unified global network. But she places greater emphasis on the Mongols in the period before Columbus, seeing their role in world history as comparable to Columbus as they brought tighter linkages to the Afro-Eurasian Network. She too sees the emergence of industrialization as a key feature leading to capitalism and today's global world of communications and economics. While the McNeill's highlight the economic boom in the world since 1945, Brown points to the upsurge in standards of living that began in England and Holland in the 1600s and has not been reversed as had often happened up to that time. She questions whether industrial society without colonies can continue to prosper without a setback in living standards. Readers who are interested in the Bible will find some new twists in Brown's reflections on the hunter-gatherer life that predated the development of agriculture and domestication of animals. Twice she points to the rising of the Mediterranean Sea that resulted, around 5600 BCE, in the sudden overflowing that created the Bosphorus Strait and the Black Sea. (pp. 66 & 93) She suggests that the flood stories in the Old Testament and throughout the Middle East may have sprung from that event, even though she admits this is only speculation. She also throws new meanings on the Epic of Gilgamesh and the story of Adam and Eve as she reflects on the life of hunter-gatherers. She sees those stories as reflecting a conflict over the loss of the leisure and ease of the hunting and gathering life compared to the labor and human concentration that came with agriculture. ( See pp. 90-93) This book is highly concentrated yet filled with observations that will stimulate further inquiry into areas that are only briefly covered. This is an excellent book that needs to be read by anyone wanting a framework for understanding the past of our universe, the development of human civilization, and the peril that industrialization and overpopulation pose for our present and future.

Wonderful in her writing, and definitely invites arguments of the good kind, Cynthia Stokes Brown provides us a history on a grand scale, but it starts with the beginning of the universe and not at the beginning of the written word. It is certainly ambitious to start history with the Big Bang, of course that would mean changing the purpose of human history and framing it in the context of the known scientific universe. This would mean that the relationship of humans towards their environment becomes the central theme of this historical narrative. The book’s organization is chronological, as with the case of the genre known as “big history.” Right from the start, Brown makes it clear that the creation of the Universe, the Earth, the environment that it created, and the sentient life that emerged from it. It can be rather surprising that Big History was able to cover a 13.7-billion-year timeframe in about 300 pages, which can potentially make the book overwhelming in its information. However, in Brown’s case, it is certainly not boring. Big History functions sort of as a summary of history, with the first part covering how the Earth was made and the second part a grand summary of human history. Why in a summary? This is probably a core tenant of “big history:” move beyond specialized history and look at the big picture. This is certainly an ambitious subject and, if done correctly, can certainly raise lively discussions. When looking into the bibliography of Big History, one can note that it is almost exclusively secondary sources. Again, refer to a core tenant of “big history;” moving beyond specialized history. While utilizing secondary resources when crafting a general history is certainly not a bad thing, this leads to one disadvantage: leaving certain events in history out of the study. It is a common criticism always thrown at studies involving “big history,” and Brown’s book is no exception to the criticism. Among other things, Big History does not spend much time on the impact of the Russian Revolution that brought about the Soviet Union nor the larger-scale impact of Fascism. In the context of the environment, the ideas of the former (later) emphasized a need to create an environmentally sustainable socialism without impeding human growth and progress while the latter saw a need to sustain that growth via wiping out a certain percentage point of the human population. This isn’t the book to learn about one topic in human history, but Big History is certainly something that can catch the attention of the lay person; assumingly the target audience that Brown was aiming for, along with future and current teachers. Criticisms aside, the book will certainly provide something new to learn and to discuss. That is, something that would help us as humanity to better understand our position on Earth and the universe.

IMO, reading "Big History" is a little like reading a front page newspaper article's headline, plus then its slightly more elaborated sub-headlines, plus then the first 4 or so summarizing paragraphs of that article. It gives a very good overview of "our" history, from the beginning of our solar system through the present. David Christian's also excellent (and far larger & far more detailed) "Maps of Time" covers similar grounds but much more comprehensively. I'm glad I read Cynthia Stokes Brown's "Big History" first but also very glad to now be reading David Christian's "Maps of Time." For many of us, our exposure to "world history" has been heavily biassed by a western European slant -- maybe a little ancient Egypt, followed by the rise and fall of Greece, then Rome, then the Dark Ages, Renaissance, etc. This (& other related "Big History" works) provide very worthwhile, interesting correctives plus integrating some astronomy, evolutionary biology, etc.

July 1,2019 A Review by Anthony T. Riggio of the book: Big History by Cynthia Stokes Brown I purchased this book, in hardbound edition, several months from ago from a resale vendor based on a write-up I read on the internet. It sounded interesting but when I received the book in the mail, I was surprised that it was less than 250 pages, for a book of the history of the development of our current universe, the earth and all of man's history and its future. I was somewhat suspect of its worth. It is well written and I would suspect it so, for an instructor from Berkley. The book is basically a gloss over of the enormous subject matter. I did find it interesting but title belied the subject matter scope. I gave it three stars out of five and was very critical of the last chapter as it was a review of the author's reality of our world, which I found very political in it scope and quite frankly left wing it both its content and context. I would not recommend this book to lovers of traditional history.

An amazing story is told from the big bang to the current time. Covering all of the critical trends that have allowed us to reach where we are today. No other book so challenges the mind to think outside the box. Can read this book over and over.

I really enjoyed this book. I especially like the historical perspective. I have read other books written by scientists and they were also interesting. But, the historical perspective was interestingly different

I recommend this book to readers interested in where Homo sapiens fit in the great scheme of things. Usually left to philosophers, this task is now tackled by historians. A recent field of inquiry within World History, Big History attempts to place Homo sapiens in the context of the universe. Although similarly fine books on Big History exist, Cynthia Stokes Brown's book is a very good introduction to this field of inquiry. The book is divided into two parts. Part I deals with the emergence of the universe as we know it, and of own neighborhood in the space. It then reviews the emergence of the living Earth, Homo sapiens, and hunter-gather societies. We learn how life forms depend on their non-living surroundings, how Homo sapiens are literally stardust, and how we are animals very much related to other living beings. That, in a profound sense, the Earth itself is a living organism. As may be expected, Part II dealing with the last 10,000 years is much longer reviewing world history proper. Stokes Brown points to emerging patterns in human history as "civilization" emerges and develops up to the present. Here she is much influenced by Fernand Braudel's school of history. The focus is very much on circulation of people, animals, goods, technologies, and diseases. In my opinion, this approach creates a number of problems when the author deals with the emergence of capitalism and industrialization. The profit motive, very much in focus these days with the current massive "financial" crisis, takes the backseat to technologies and consumer behavior. Thus, solution to the current social and environmental/ecological problems become obscure. By offering a final chapter called "What Now,? What Next?" Stokes Brown correctly turns our attention to finding solutions to these problems. But somehow, the powerful case she builds about our place in the universe is lost and attention is focus to the narrow debate in the mainstream. This debate not only ignores the capitalist foundation of society, it also forgets the very context of who we (Homo sapiens) are. Thus the logical of the story Stokes Brown has told, that the only solution to our the crisis caused by capitalist social order is to return to a society where we can live in harmony with nature (as hunter-gathers did to a great extent without having the benefit the state of our current knowledge) is lost.

Several writers have covered the longest history we can imagine, from Big Bang to now and beyond. This brief one is a quick and pleasant read. Ms Brown acknowledges that she follows in the path of David Christian [Maps of Time]; she writes clearly and with restrained passion about humanity's impact on the environment. I read this parallel to listening to a Teaching Company course [Big History] : a good way to review the lectures!