Terence N. D’Altroy, The Incas (2002). A history of the Inca Empire that draws on recent archeological and historical research.

Edward L. Dreyer, Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty (2006). The most recent scholarly account of the Ming dynasty voyages.

Halil Inalcik and Donald Quataert, An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1914 (1994). A classic study of the Ottoman Empire.

Robin Kirkpatrick, The European Renaissance, 1400–1600 (2002). A beautifully illustrated history of Renaissance culture as well as the social and economic life of the period.

Charles C. Mann, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus (2005). A review of Western Hemisphere societies and academic debates about their pre-Columbian history.

J. R. McNeill and William H. McNeill, The Human Web (2003). A succinct account of the evolving webs or relationships among human societies in world history.

Michael Smith, The Aztecs (2003). A history of the Aztec Empire, with an emphasis on the lives of ordinary people.

“Italian Renaissance,” http://www.history.com/topics/italian-renaissance. A History channel presentation of the European Renaissance, with a number of brief videos.

“Ming Dynasty,” http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ming/hd_ming.htm. A sample of Chinese art from the Ming dynasty from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.