Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel. W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.
The main idea with which Diamond begins his global explanation of the difficulty of studying human history is as follows. People and human collectives are living systems that exist among other living systems and are subject to the general laws of evolution. According to Diamond, everyone is equal: not only people who have been forced to live with malicious viruses and microbes for many millennia have their own history (Diamond 10). The difficulties of studying history lie in separating the elements of a continuous life stream, in which plants, animals and even microorganisms act on an equal footing with people.
Frankopan, Peter. The Silk Roads: A New History of The World. Bloomsbury, 2015.
The author tried to look at the development of Asia over the centuries through the prism of the Great Silk Road. In classical history, the primary importance is given to Greece and Rome. Another point of view that Frankopan offers is unusual interpretations of events, which nevertheless also have indisputable evidence (Frankopan 40). For example, this fact explains the imitation of eastern rulers, although the Western climate is not at all designed for such development. Thus, he argues that the difficulty of studying history lies in the presence of several alternative equally probable views on events.
Mazlish, Bruce. “Comparing Global History to World History.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 28, no. 3, 1998, pp. 385-395. 92
The author argues that the difficulties of studying the history of the state are caused by the growing trend of globalization. In the conditions of the countries’ interdependence, the established traditional system of international relations is undergoing significant changes, as a result of which it becomes difficult to distinguish between historical events. Modern development trends in all spheres of life – economics, politics, culture, legislation – are characterized by globalization or unification of historical processes (Mazlish 394).. In the given circumstances, it seems laborious to separate the historical events of individual states. The difference between global history and local history is often quite significant, and the resulting interpretation of historical events can be contradictory.
Works Cited
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel. W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.
Frankopan, Peter. The Silk Roads: A New History of The World. Bloomsbury, 2015.
Mazlish, Bruce. “Comparing Global History to World History.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 28, no. 3, 1998, pp. 385-395.