Page 41 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

xlvi berkshire encyclopedia of world history

turn to this definitive work for a connected, holistic, continued to be by U.S. mail, made easier by the fact that
view of world history—the story of humans and their in this rural corner of New England letters between
place on earth. Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and Colebrook, Con-
necticut, invariably arrive the next day, a minor felicity of
Contemplating the Task time and place that has helped throughout the project.
Berkshire Publishing’s journey to the creation of the Over the years, Bill followed our progress with other pub-
Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History (BEWH) has lications, prepared for other publishers. Perhaps it was
also been a long and interesting one. Our aspirations are our successful creation of the Encyclopedia of Modern
big: Despite our small staff and our location in a tiny Asia that made him believe that we could really produce
town in western Massachusetts, we have tackled such the goods when we announced that we wanted to launch
ambitious projects as the six-volume Encyclopedia of our independent publishing imprint with an encyclope-
Modern Asia (Scribners 2002) and the three-volume dia of world history.
Encyclopedia of World Environmental History (Routledge Bill understands the web of communication and con-
2004), both of which have garnered industry awards for nection that enables human creativity and invention, and
excellence. But we have always dreamed of taking on the he made all the initial connections that in turn made this
ultimate topic—world history. remarkable project possible.Among the people he put us
in touch with were Heidi Roupp, founder of the e-jour-
Assembling the Editors nal World History Connected, and David Christian,
While the Encyclopedia of World Environmental History author of the 2004 Maps of Time. A meeting in August
was still in the making Karen Christensen mentioned this 2002 with David Christian and Bill and John McNeill—
ambition to John McNeill, the lead editor for that project. in addition to several members of the McNeill clan and
His advice was simple: “Talk to Jerry Bentley.” He made our own children too—on the porch of Bill and his wife
an introduction by email, and Jerry, editor of the Journal Elizabeth’s family home in Colebrook, Connecticut,
of World History, began to help us plan the encyclopedia. might be considered the official starting point for the
We have been blessed to have the advice of Bill BEWH.
McNeill from even earlier. In 1995, before Berkshire Pub-
lishing had even been christened, Karen Christensen The Framing Conference
was asked to do a small project on world history. Robert The World History Association has been helpful in
Ferrell, a distinguished U.S. presidential historian, sug- many ways, and gave us the timely chance to meet
gested she contact William McNeill for help, mentioning many world historians at its conference in Seoul in
that he had retired to a family house not far from Great August 2002. The project's orginal staff editor, Junhee
Barrington.With some trepidation she wrote to Bill and (June) Kim, a native of Korea and veteran project editor
received a response within just a few days. “Frankly I of our Encyclopedia of Modern Asia, arranged a tradi-
don’t think you should claim that you can squeeze the tional dinner. We became acquainted with Ralph
known history of the world into existing national bound- Crozier, the WHA's president elect, and also met Larry
aries,” he wrote, “Too many things run across those Beaber and Despina Danos of the Educational Testing
boundaries, including what I would count the most Service, who were in the process of launching the AP
important matters—diffusion of skills and ideas in par- world history program.
ticular . . . Still I will be glad to discuss these issues with We held a small conference for our editors in October
you and find out how you intend to proceed.” 2002, an ideal time of year to bring people to the Berk-
Bill was generous with advice—and with lunch, often shires. The participants met for two days to frame the
including something from his garden. Correspondence encyclopedia, develop a mission statement, and work