Jeffrey D. Sachs turns to world history to shed light on how we can meet the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. He takes readers through a series of seven distinct waves of technological and institutional change, starting with early modern humans and ending with reflections on today's globalization. Sachs writes in simple, clean prose that most students and general readers should find accessible. This is no small feat considering the massiveness of the topics and the brevity of the book.