With unparalleled coverage of social history, A History of World Societies explores the lives of peoples of the world within a political framework. The text is known for its readability, integration of strong scholarship, and new historical interpretations. A range of technology resources, including Houghton Mifflin's Eduspace online learning tool, premium Blackboard and WebCT content, and materials designed for student success, gives A History of World Societies one of the strongest technology programs on the market. Twentieth-century world and African history scholar Roger Beck joins the author team for the Seventh Edition. In addition to completely revising the last four chapters, Dr. Beck contributes his scholarly expertise throughout the text. The entire author team has worked to increase coverage of non-western topics in order to achieve a more balanced, global approach to world history. Several new features, as well as significant structural and content changes, round out this very thorough revision, most importantly, Volumes II and C, along with the complete version of the text, also include a 16-page essay by Roger Beck, titled "The Middle East in Today's World." The essay focuses on a broad examination of the various crises in the Middle East and their global consequences and is illustrated with photos and maps that help students visualize the topics.