The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth Edition For decades William L. Langer's best-selling Encyclopedia of World History was the indispensable, authoritative guide to all of human history. Now, under the direction of a distinguished new editor, comes an updated and dramatically improved version for a new generation, the only encyclopedia of its kind with a bound-in, searchable compact disc of the complete text. The result is a wholly accessible, absorbing canvas of world history that no student, scholar, or amateur historian should be without. Renowned historian Peter N. Stearns and thirty prominent historians have combined their expertise over the past ten years to perfect this comprehensive chronology of more than 20,000 entries that span the millennia from prehistoric times to the year 2000. With a unique format that has won it generations of fans, the Encyclopedia continues to feature chronological entries grouped by geographic region, allowing readers to get an in-depth view of distinct events along with a virtual time line of human history.