{"product_id":"the-pursuit-of-truth-a-historians-memoir","title":"The Pursuit of Truth: A Historian's Memoir","description":"\u003cp\u003eWilliam H. McNeills seminal book The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community (1963) received the National Book Award in 1964 and was later named one of the 100 best nonfiction books of the twentieth century by the Modern Library. From his post at the University of Chicago  McNeill became one of the first contemporary North American historians to write world history  seeking a broader interpretation of human affairs than prevailed in his youth. This candid  intellectual memoir from one of the most famous and influential historians of our era  The Pursuit of Truth charts the development of McNeills thinking and writing over seven decades. At the core of his worldview is the belief that historical truth does not derive exclusively from criticizing  paraphrasing  and summarizing written documents  nor is history merely a record of how human intentions and plans succeeded or failed. Instead  McNeill believes that human lives are immersed in vast overarching processes of change. Ecological circumstances frame and limit human action  while in turn humans have been able to alter their environment more and more radically as technological skill and knowledge increased. McNeill believes that the human adventure on earth is unique  and that it rests on an unmatched system of communication. The web of human communication  whether spoken  written  or digital  has fostered both voluntary and involuntary cooperation and sustained behavioral changes  permitting a single species to spread over an entire planet and to alter terrestrial flows of energy and ideas to an extraordinary degree. Over the course of his career as a historian  teacher  and mentor  McNeill expounded the range of history and integrated it into an evolutionary worldview uniting physical  biological  and intellectual processes. Accordingly  The Pursuit of Truth explores the personal and professional life of a man who affected the way a core academic discipline has been taught and understood in America.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44946443632693,"sku":"ByrdShop_0813123453","price":48.58,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780813123455_dc7bae17-6320-466f-9db4-e893d07b9fb9.jpg?v=1770155813","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-pursuit-of-truth-a-historians-memoir","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}