The Human Web: a Bird's-Eye View of World History.(Book Review)

J.R. McNeill and William H. McNeill

W.W. Norton and Company 368 pp. 19.95 [pounds sterling] ISBN 0 393 05179 X.

INTERCONNECTEDNESS IS THE THEME of this impressive and thoughtful account of human development, an account that is unusually effective because of its success in coveting regions other than the 'West'. The McNeills, father and son, begin by considering the distinctive character of the human condition: this species alone created a world of symbolic meanings, capable both of exceedingly rapid evolution and also of coordinating the behaviour of large numbers of individuals. Language was the most important breakthrough, although dance, ritual and art …