What makes this history book different? Western Civilization, the Beginnings of a Single Planet is the first book to let readers decide how deep into a historical subject, event, war, politic or culture they'd like to delve. Through the use of more than 1,500 imbedded Wikipedia links, readers can now choose how broad or narrow a history to pursue. With the power and breadth of Wikipedia, readers have access to the most recently updated maps, data, information and art through the ages. This makes this book the only historical narrative that is edited, updated and corrected by Wikipedians worldwide making subsequent editions unnecessary. An especially unique feature impossible to replicate in print media is the use of links to .gif files with animated maps showing the rise and fall of empires, the spread of the black death, ancient migrations and other trends that take place over hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. While this book's approach may not be on the same level of technological development as the Gutenberg press, it does represent a historic change in the way people can absorb our history both now and in the future.