Most people's knowledge of world history is hazy at its best. This No-Nonsense Guide gives a full picture, revealing the hidden histories and communities left out of conventional textbooks - from the civilisations of Africa, Asia and Latin America to the history of women, submerged beneath accounts of politics and war. This new edition is fully updated and revised to include a section on how the key issues of the 21st century - climate change, 9/11, the Iraq War, corporate power, China's headlong growth - fit into the broader patterns of world history.