How was the earth first populated? How big can an empire get? What causes a civilization to decline? How does body type affect a culture? These and other fascinating topics are explored in From Apes to Apps, a collection of twenty-five original essays penned by Jason Ripper. The subjects are high-interest and addressed from a global and comparative perspective. These topics demonstrate to the reader through cultural comparisons the differences and similarities that are characteristic of and form the essence of the human experience. The essays cover a variety of themes, in particular, social, cultural, economic, biological, and technological issues. They reflect concepts and questions that span civilizations and time. The essays are chronologically arranged, fast-paced narratives that use storytelling techniques to heighten reader interest. History is presented as an intriguing account of the rise of world civilizations.
The topics covered represent a wide variety of exploration and range in scope from the populating of the earth, animal and plant domestication: a better lifestyle, gender roles in antiquity, trade routes and intercultural exchanges, plagues and their consequences, yearning for the dream world, communication technology, to migration and the peopling of today’s world.
Table of Contents:
Migration and the Peopling of the Earth: The DNA Trail
Domestication of Plants and Animals, A Better Lifestyle: China, Africa, and the Americas
Why Does a Civilization Decline? Indus Valley, Angor, and the Moche Civilization in Peru
Gender Roles in Ancient Cultures: China, Greece, and India
Legalism and Eastern Philosophies
The Religious Melting Pot: Confucius, The Buddha, and Jesus
Which Side Is Which? Coinage and Propaganda: Republican Roman Families and a Hellenistic Mystery Coin.
How Large Can an Empire Get? Han China, The Persian Empire, and Rome
Christianity and Eastern Mystery Religions: The Great War for Acceptance
Cross-Cultural Exchanges on Frontier Borders: China, the Greeks, Carthage, and Rome
Trade Routes and the Expansion of Intercultural Relations: Europe’s Amber Road, Asia’s Silk Road, and African Trade Routes
A Comparative Look at Feudalism: China, Europe, India, and Japan
Cultural Interaction: Moslems and the West and Moslems in India
Engineering an Empire in the Americas: Mexico and Peru
Colonization or Trade? The Americas and Asia
Drugs and World Trade: Chocolate, Opium, and the Coffee Bean
Hidden Treasures: The Role of Underwater Archaeology in Deciphering Humanity’s Past
The Khan’s Lost Fleet
The Steamship Arabia
Concepts of Nature and the Industrial Revolution
Plagues and Their Consequences: The Black Plague, Smallpox, The 1917 Flu Pandemic, and Aids
World’s Fairs and Cultural Exchange:
The 1851 London Worlds Fair
The 1939 New York Worlds Fair (World of Tomorrow)
The 2005 Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan
Yearning for the Dream World: Peach Blossom Spring, Brigadoon, and Shangri-La
Education versus Entertainment: Movies and the Cultural Learning Experience
Russian Film
Japanese Cinema
Hollywood and History
India’s Film Heritage
Love and Gender in Southeast Asia
Body Types and Culture
Communications Technology: Past and Future
The Printing Press
The Radio
Television
The Internet
The Future
Migration and the Peopling of Today’s World
