50 pages 1 hour read

Robert B. Marks

The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-first Century

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002

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Essay Topics

1.

In your own words, describe Marks’s thesis for The Origins of the Modern World. In what ways is it relevant to present-day issues like climate change? Examine this topic, using textual evidence and citing any other sources.

2.

Marks describes various “analytic tools” that he uses to support his arguments. What are these tools? Are they effective in backing his thesis? Why or why not?

3.

Marks writes, “[T]o understand our world, we have to understand not just how nation-states and industry came to shape the modern world, but how and why those European ways of organizing the world came to dominate the globe” (3). Does his book accomplish this goal? Why or why not?