William H. McNeill

J. R. McNeill and William H. McNeill
J. R. McNeill and William H. McNeill by David Levine

William H. McNeill is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Chicago. His most recent books are The Pursuit of Truth: A Historian’s Memoir and A Boyhood Memory: Long Ago on Grandfather’s Farm, which is currently in search of a publisher. (April 2008)

From the Review

April 17, 2008: Man Slaughters Man*

Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur by Ben Kiernan

November 22, 2007: 'Shall We Dance?' (letter)

September 27, 2007: Shall We Dance?*

Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy by Barbara Ehrenreich

April 12, 2007: How the Winds Changed History*

Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration by Felipe Fernández-Armesto

December 21, 2006: Conspicuous Proliferation*

War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today by Max Boot

October 19, 2006: Secrets of the Cave Paintings*

The Nature of Paleolithic Art by R. Dale Guthrie

The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World's First Artists by Gregory Curtis

June 22, 2006: Watch on the Rhine*

The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany by David Blackbourn

April 27, 2006: Beyond Words*

The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body by Steven Mithen

January 12, 2006: The Man Who Changed History*

Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin by John Hope Franklin

December 1, 2005: New World Symphony*

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

September 22, 2005: Ah, Wilderness!*

Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape: Vermont's Champlain Valley and New York's Adirondacks by Bill McKibben

Confluence: A River, the Environment, Politics, and the Fate of All Humanity by Nathaniel Tripp, with a foreword by Howard Dean

November 18, 2004: Alive! (letter)

October 21, 2004: Bigger and Better?*

The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700–2100:Europe, America, and the Third World by Robert William Fogel

April 8, 2004: Weapon of Mass Destruction*

The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry

May 23, 2002: The Big R*

Racism: A Short History by George M. Fredrickson

The Anatomy of Racial Inequality by Glenn C. Loury

In the Image of God: Religion, Moral Values, and Our Heritage of Slavery by David Brion Davis

December 20, 2001: The Conservation of Catastrophe*

Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910 by Stephen J. Pyne

Jumping Fire: A Smokejumper's Memoir of Fighting Wildfire by Murry A. Taylor

Fire by Sebastian Junger

September 20, 2001: Continental Choo-Choo*

Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad by David Haward Bain

Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863–1869 by Stephen E. Ambrose

June 29, 2000: A Short History of Humanity*

April 27, 2000: Goodbye to the Bison*

The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920 by Andrew C. Isenberg

February 10, 2000: The Flu of Flus*

Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It by Gina Kolata

September 23, 1999: The Greatest Might-Have-Been of All*

November 5, 1998: Vivacious Ghost*

How the Canyon Became Grand: A Short History by Stephen J. Pyne

April 23, 1998: How the West Won*

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor by David S. Landes

June 26, 1997: 'Guns, Germs, and Steel' (letter)

May 15, 1997: History Upside Down*

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

January 9, 1997: Decline of the West?

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel P. Huntington

June 20, 1996: The Great Contest*

The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years by Bernard Lewis

Cultures in Conflict: Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Age of Discovery by Bernard Lewis

July 21, 1983: The Plague of Plagues*

The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe by Robert S. Gottfried

Books by William H. McNeill

Human Web: A Bird's Eye View of the World History (2002)
The Disruption of Traditional Forms of Nurture (1998)
Keeping Together in Time: Dance and Drill in Human History (1995)
The Global Condition: Conquerors, Catastrophes, and Community (1992)
Hutchins' University: A Memoir of the University of Chicago, 1929-1950 (1991)
The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community: With a Retrospective Essay (1991)
Population and Politics Since 1750 (1990)
The Age of Gunpowder Empires, 1450-1800 (1989)
Arnold J. Toynbee, a Life (1989)
History of Western Civilization: A Handbook (1986)
Polyethnicity and National Unity in World History (1986)
Mythistory and Other Essays (1986)
The Great Frontier: Freedom and Hierarchy in Modern Times (1983)
The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society Since A.D. 1000 (1982)
The Human Condition: An Ecological and Historical View (1980)
The Metamorphosis of Greece Since World War II (1978)
Plagues and Peoples (1976)
The Shape of European Histor (1974)
Venice: The Hinge of Europe, 1081-1797 (1974)
A World History (1971)