This volume puts the survival of the human species into historical perspective. It surveys the evolution of Homo sapiens from our first appearance in Africa to the contemporary crisis of global warming. The author's comparative strategy minimizes Eurocentric biases in favor of a balanced global perspective. His history is divided into six distinct periods based on evolving social organization. Earlier periods are longer but are treated in less detail than later periods. During the first three periods, human populations diverge; in the last three they collide and converge. The major drivers precipitating new periods were processes that affected all humans: diaspora, agricultural revolution, global connection, energy revolution, and the transformation in information technologies. Initially, people were organized into bands and tribes with shared languages. Later, they formed regional cultures, trans-regional groupings, colonial empires, and - finally -- nation states.
Over time, humans' understanding of the world was filtered through mythology, then organized religion, science and academic expertise. An assumption of authority underlay all these previous guides to human understanding. More and more in today's world, however, people seek knowledge and understanding through social and mass media, which allow amplification of and equal access to even the most unqualified voices. It is harder and harder for the general population to perceive reality.
None of the social groupings examined in Farmer's history of humans - tribes, regional cultures, nation-states, or empires -- have led humanity to wisdom nor mechanisms for effective global management. But population growth, the push for global development, and increased energy consumption are contributing to a crisis that threatens human existence itself. Will divisions of language, race, religion, national identity and economic status prevent us from learning how to achieve a new, more globally-oriented stage in the story of our species?