Already, though, I hope to have convinced you, the reader, that history is not "just one damn fact after another," as a cynic put it. There really are broad patterns to history, and the search for their explanation is as productive as it is fascinating.

Much of human history has consisted of unequal conflicts between the haves and the have-nots.

Tasmanya'nın Avrupalı kaşiflerce MS 1642 yılında ilk keşfedildiği zamanki taş teknolojisi,Yukarı Avrupa'nın on binlerce yıl önce Yontma Taş Çağı'ndaki teknolojisinden daha basitti.