Ch. 23

When it comes to Barbie dolls, Iranian toy seller Masoumela Rahimi thinks they are worst than America's missiles. "Barbie's revealing clothing, her shapely appearance, and her close association with Ken, her longtime unmarried companion, were foreign to Iran's culture". Barbie is a very influential icon in American culture and for decades, children have idolize and wanted to have that kind of lavish lifestyle. But Rahimi is right, Barbie is a bad influence on the West because she is a symbol for have materialistic things, and brainwashes people to strive for materialistic things as well. In today's society we are so obsessed with goals of this nature that we have become trapped in an on going cycle of wanting to have a glamorous life. We should start focusing more on the things that truly matter and produce a produce a symbol for that.

Ch. 21

Today's communism was a product of the teachings of Karl Marx. Back in the earlier twentieth century, European socialist believe that goals could be accomplished with peace and democracy. On the other hand, people who thought that revolution was the only way to a "socialist future" were known as communist. The first country to try this rationalized idea was the Soviet Union. In their time, the Soviet Union was the world's largest country in size. The Soviet's were apart of a lot of controversy during the twentieth century. When the Japanese were defeated in World War 2, all of their Korean colonies fell under the Soviet's communist control. Fidel Castro became a communist and allied Cuba with the Soviets which in turn gave the Soviet's an enormous amount of military support. In an organization called Comintern, the Soviet Union theoretically controlled its policies and actions. The Treaty of Friendship combined Chinese and Soviet Union forces that frighten the West, but the treaty would be tarnished, and China and the Soviet's almost went to war in the 1960s.

Ch. 19

As Europe was growing with all its overseas empires, other countries wanted to mimic their kind of success. One country who tried to expand as the Europeans did was China. China failed to grow like Europe and cause itself to have a huge peasant population, smaller farms, unemployment, impoverishment, misery, and starvation. China's failed attempt to evolve with its growing population caused it to not preform functions like tax collection, flood control, social welfare, and public security. This is a very big issue, if you can't provide for a community, eventually they will self-implode. Peasant rebellions lead by Hong Xiuquan called for a total reformation of China. His acts influenced "abolition of private property, a radical redistribution of land, the end of prostitution and opium smoking, and sexually segregated military camps of men and women". With Hong, China was becoming an industrial nation. With demands that help the community at large.

Ch. 16

"Many parts of the world witnessed political and social upheaval, leading some historians to thinks in terms of a "world crisis" or converging revolutions". The world during this time was going through major changes. Arabia was on the brink of taking control of the Ottoman Empire. Peasants of the Russia empire were uprising against them. There were Islamic revolutions taking place in West Africa, while in South Africa, what is known as mfecane caused violent outbreaks that created new states and societies. But the biggest impact on the world during this time were the Atlantic Revolutions. For one, war was costly which troubled imperial Europeans states. In a political stand point, popular sovereignty was taking over. Instead of having God govern the people, the people had the authority to govern themselves. The last distinctive attribute of the Atlantic Recolutions was the monumental global impact it had. Countries were starting to abolish slavery, "extend the right to vote, to develop constitutions, and to secure greater equality for women". All of these features help plant a seed for global change that would help diversify the world, a place where everyone can be somewhat accepted.

Ch. 14

As European conquest grew to new heights, they discovered a commerce system reigning from East Africa to China. The main product on the market was Tropical Spices. Spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and pepper were used as preservatives. Other products such as silk, cotton, rhubarb, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires were also in high demand. But unfortunately for the Europeans, there were some problem for trade. First was that Muslims had their hands on most of the goods that they wanted. Another problem was, how were they going to pay for these Eastern goods. Europe also different have any trading valve appealing enough for the Asian markets. So how could Europe compete with a trade dominate world? Well the Portuguese learned that most of merchant ships in the Indian Ocean weren't heavily armed, and since the Chinese fleet withdrew from the Indian Ocean, the Portugese saw their opportunity to raid the merchant ships. Even if Europe hadn't caught up in an economical stand point, they sure did caught up in naval technology, and warfare.

Ch. 13

European conquest truly began in the early modern era, when it was considered to be known as "Age of Empire". Europe thought globally instead of expanding in already known regions and decided to claim unknown charters. The Spanish had their sights on the Caribbean to build their empire. Portuguese settlers took over the coast of Brazil. And lastly British, French, and Dutch sailied to the eastern coast of North America. This type of expansion was a huge power surge for European because it gave them more global control. Unlike any other country, Europeans were proficient in mapmaking, navigation, sailing techniques, and ship design, this helped them to dominate the Altantic Ocean. Their motivation knew no bound. Poor nobles and commoners found a chance to gaining wealth and status in the North American colonies. Missionaries were focused on spreading Christianity throughout the new inhabitant lands. And unfortunately European diseases and germs helped them in the Americas. There diseases caused many Native Americans to get sick and eventually die off.

Chpt. 22

For the most of modern history, Africa and Asia had fallen victim to European rule. Europe even today is still has its mark on these societies giving the fact that they have influenced most of common history, but during the 19th and 20th century Africa and Asia finally said enough and decided to become independent and less reliant on European control. Thanks to the United States revolt to British rule and the world wars, this help give both continents the heart to finally fight for their own independence. As they finally achieved independence, European rule over the rest of the world started to loosen and they became somewhat weak in the world of that time. "The enormously powerful force of nationalism, having earlier driven the process of European empire building, now played a major role in its disintegration. Colonial rule, in this argument, dug its own grave". It seems as the world was changing drastically especially after both world wars, so was the way the world thought politically and economically. For democracy was the popular form of government and not the shallow nationalism of the older eras.

Chapt. 20

Thought the years the worlds populations has steadily increased. And with that comes the demands of many things such as food, resources, clothing, etc. And the people of today are running out of these things. Back in the twentieth century we hit a very important boom as far as technology, and modernization, not just it one part of the world but worldwide. One of the biggest booms was both World Wars. The amount of causalities that were lost on all sides, plus the toll that our planet took was monumental and still being felt in today. Also another big factor was the uprising of superpowers in the world. Both the Soviet Union and the United States had become the "Britain" in the world. Some believe that we are in the modern era, and others think that we are in an era know as Anthropocene which is "the age of man". The reason behind this is that we are creating the biggest mark on the world thus far but also changing the earth geological, atmospheric, and biological history. Now the question arises: Are we going to destroy the planet to the point of no return in this century?

Chpt. 20

Thought the years the worlds populations has steadily increased. And with that comes the demands of many things such as food, resources, clothing, etc. And the people of today are running out of these things. Back in the twentieth century we hit a very important boom as far as technology, and modernization, not just it one part of the world but worldwide. One of the biggest booms was both World Wars. The amount of causalities that were lost on all sides, plus the toll that our planet took was monumental and still being felt in today. Also another big factor was the uprising of superpowers in the world. Both the Soviet Union and the United States had become the "Britain" in the world. Some believe that we are in the modern era, and others think that we are in an era know as Anthropocene which is "the age of man". The reason behind this is that we are creating the biggest mark on the world thus far but also changing the earth geological, atmospheric, and biological history. Now the question arises: Are we going to destroy the planet to the point of no return in this century?