Referring to the ongoing issue of climate change, Marks states that the “story of how the world got to the point where human actions could affect global environmental processes is complex but not mysterious” (2). Understanding this story and the past could help people make a better future. On that basis, Marks argues that five “themes” form the history of the modern world: why “some parts of the world first industrialized” (2) and how industrialization spread; the rise of nation-states; the economic gap between the world’s wealthy and impoverished regions of the world; how humans have impacted the environment; and globalization. In addition, Marks points out that the modern era has seen dramatic changes: “Just 250 years ago” (2), China and India were the most economically powerful regions of the world. Western countries became the dominant economic and political force in the world, and China was only recently able to challenge the power of the world’s largest economy, the US. From these changes, Marks addresses how industrializing European nation-states, instead of “highly developed agrarian empires like China and India” (3), began to shape the world.

Next, Marks notes that the historical idea of “the rise of the West” (3) is used to explain how European countries formed the world of the present day.