Introduction

Welcome to Modern World History!  This is the textbook for an undergraduate survey course taught at all the universities and most of the colleges in the Minnesota State system. Similar courses are taught at institutions around the United States and the world, so the authors have made the text available as an open educational resource (OER) that teachers and learners can read, adapt, and reuse to meet their needs. OERs are not only available to students at a much lower cost than traditional textbooks (usually they’re free, unless you choose to buy a low-cost hard copy), they’re also much easier to update and revise, as new information becomes available in a field or as new learning tools are developed. In the case of this text, both have happened in the short time since the first edition was published by Dan Allosso and Tom Williford about a year ago. Allosso teaches Modern World History regularly at Bemidji State University; Williford teaches Western Civilization and World History at Southwest State University. Allosso revises the course slightly, every time he teaches it. The new version builds upon the content on which Allosso and Williford collaborated in 2020, focusing a bit more on elements Allosso wants to highlight in his Spring 2022 course. Additionally, the Minnesota State University system’s implementation of the Pressbooks platform includes interactive, H5P elements that were not available to the authors in the previous version. The new elements will aid in learning, retention, and understanding. As always, the author would like to hear from people who have found the text useful and welcomes questions and suggestions.