Primary Sources in World History : Wealth, Power, and Inequality, Since 1500, Volume 2

As purposeful actors on the stage of world history, ambitious individuals have exhibited a deep-seated desire to become prosperous and powerful. These documents show that their self-interested behavior has led to increasing social, political, and economic inequality both within and among different societies around the world.

This two-volume collection of primary documents covers societies that developed writing systems in different geographical regions during that last 5,000 years. While comprehensive in scope, this reader focuses on a central theme: the unequal allocation of wealth and power both within individual societies and between different polities ranging from small city-states to large territorial empires. The documents reveal that people living at different times and in different places have used similar methods to achieve similar political and economic objectives. By reflecting uniformities as well as diversities in ideas and actions, these documents undermine assertions of Western intellectual, cultural, or moral superiority. These readings also show that the expanding supply of goods and services resulting from technological innovations has led to increasing social, economic, and political, racial, and gender inequality. Selected to give students a deeper understanding of how and why inequalities have emerged in societies around the globe, each document will be introduced by a brief explanation of its historical context. And each document, presented in chronological order, will be followed by 3 or 4 review questions giving students an opportunity to test their understanding of its main points.