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Milestone Documents in World History - Exploring the Primary Sources That Shaped the World features a ground-breaking approach combining primary source documents with in-depth expert analysis.

The four-volume set covers 125 iconic primary source documents from ancient times to the present and from virtually every geographical region. Each entry offers the full text of the document in question as well as an in-depth, analytical essay that places the document in its historical context. More than a record of the past, primary documents enable an ongoing dialogue about adaptability, perspectives, and the spirit of the people they represent.

This collection of chronologically arranged entries, covering from 2350 BCE to CE 2000, is structured to guide readers and provide essential context leading up to the documents' issue. Each entry's lengthy preface includes a clear overview, historical context, author information, analysis, description of the intended audience, impact, and essential quotes from the selection.

Among the documents included in the set are iconic legal and constitutional documents such as the Code of Hammurabi, Magna Carta, Meiji Constitution, and African Union Constitutive Act; famous treatises such as the Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," the Communist Manifesto, and Osama bin Laden's Declaration of Jihad against America; important legislative acts from the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to the Treaty of Najing to the Treaty of Versailles; and cultural and political declarations such as Martin Luther's 95 Theses, Gandhi's "Quit India" Speech, and Nelson Mandela's Inaugural Address.

Table of contents

1. Reform Edict of Urukagina (ca. 2350 BCE)
2. Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1752 BCE)
3. Code of the Nesilim (aka The Hittite Laws) (ca. 1650-1500 BCE)
4. Coronation Inscription of Queen Hatshepsut (1473 BCE)
5. Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty (1259 BCE)
6. Popul Vuh (oral tradition)
7. Code of the Assura (aka Middle Assyrian Laws) (ca. 1076 BCE)
8. Mandate of Heaven: "Numerous Officers" chapter of the Shangshu (ca. 1050 BCE)
9. Victory Stela of Piye (or Piankhy) (ca. 725 BCE)
10. Canon of Filial Piety (ca. 470 BCE)
11. Twelve Tables (449 BCE)
12. Pericles??? Funeral Oration (Thucydides 2.34.1???2.47.2) (ca. 431 BCE)
13. Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" from the Republic (380 BCE)
14. Carthaginian Constitution (ca. 340 BCE)
15. Spartan Constitution (Aristotle) (ca. 340 BCE)
16. Athenian Constitution (Aristotle) (ca. 330 BCE)
17. Rock and Pillar Edicts of Asoka (300 BCE)
18. Varna-Dharma, or Organization of the Four Classes from Laws of Manu (200 BCE to 200 CE)
19. "Discourses on Salt and Iron, chapter 1" (ca. 75-50 BCE)
20. The Acts of Augustus (ca. 14 BCE)
21. Law of Caesar on Municipalities (44 CE)
22. Galerius and Constantine: Edicts of Toleration (311/313)
23. Codex Theodosianus (Book of Theodosius) (438)
24. Code of Justinian (Codex, Digest, Institutes) (534)
25. 17-article "Constitution" of Prince Shotoku (604)
26. Taika Reform Edicts (645)
27. Pact of Umar (7th century)
28. Capitulary of Charlemagne (802)
29. Han Yu: "Memorial on Buddhism" (819)
30. Anglo-Saxon Law: Athelstan (924-939)
31. Wang Kun: "Ten Injunctions" (943)
32. al-Mawardi Ordinance of Government (10th/11th century)
33. Domesday Book (1086)
34. Urban II call to the Crusade (1095)
35. Kai Kaus: "The Purchase of Slaves" (11th century)
36. Nizam al-Mulk: "Advice to Governors" (11th century)
37. Russkya Pravda (Russian law code) (11th century)
38. Henry II Constitution of Clarendon (1160)
39. Usamah ibn Murshid ibn Munqidh: "A Muslim View of the Crusades" (ca. 1175)
40. The Great Yasa of Genghis Khan (12th century)
41. Magna Carta (1215/1297)
42. Boniface VIII Clericos Laicos and Unam Sanctam (1298/1301)
43. Marco Polo description of Hangzhou (ca. 1300)
44. Ibn Khaldun: "Group Solidarity" (14th century)
45. Machiavelli's Prince (1513/1532)
46. Martin Luther's 95 Theses (1517)
47. Correspondence from Ahmad Baba of Timbuktu (ca. 1600)
48. Laws Governing the Military Households, Tokugawa Hidetada (1615)
49. Closed Country Edict (Sakokurei) (1635)
50. Treaty of Westphalia, between Holy Roman Empire and France (1648)
51. Ulozhenie (Russian Law Code) (1649)
52. Habeas Corpus Act (of the Restoration) (1679)
53. John Locke: "Second Treatise of Government" (1689)
54. English Bill of Rights (1689)
55. British Regulating Act (1773)
56. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen; Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1789/1791)
57. Qianlong: "Letter to George III" (1793)
58. Separatist Constitution of Haiti (1801)
59. Diplomatic correspondence exchange between Muhammad al_Kanami, ruler of Bornu, and Muhammad Bello (ca. 1813)
60. Carlsbad Resolutions (Metternich and Germany) (1819)
61. Treaty of Cordoba (Mexican Independence) (1821)
62. (British) Slavery Abolition Act (1833)
63. Lin Zexu: "Moral Advice to Queen Victoria" (1839)
64. Treaty of Nanjing (1842)
65. Communist Manifesto (1848)
66. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Mexican Cession of the Southwest (1848)
67. Queen Victoria's Proclamation (1858)
68. Constitution Act (Canada) (1867)
69. Constitution of the New Fante Confederacy, along with letter conveying it to British authorities (1871)
70. Treaty of Limits between Mexico and Guatemala (1882)
71. Meiji Constitution (1889)
72. Theodor Herzl: "A Solution to the Jewish Question" (1896)
73. D'Arcy Oil Concession (1901)
74. Kaiser Wilhelm II: "A Place in the Sun" (1901)
75. Lenin: "What Is to Be Done?" (1902)
76. Guangxu Emperor, Abolition of the Civil-Service Examination System (1905)
77. Plan of Ayala by Zapata (1911)
78. Articles Providing for the Favorable Treatment of the Great Ching Emperor after His Abdication (1912)
79. Proclamation of the Irish Republic (1916)
80. Balfour Declaration (1917)
81. Korean Declaration of Independence (1919)
82. Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms/Government of India Act (1919)
83. Resolution of the General Syrian Congress (1919)
84. Treaty of Versailles (1919)
85. Resolutions of the National Congress of British West Africa (1920)
86. Treaty of Lausanne (1920)
87. Sun Yat-sen: "The Three Principles" (1921)
88. Covenant of the League of Nations (1924)
89. Mao Zedong: "Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan, March 1927" (1927)
90. A. B. Xuma: "Bridging the Gap between Black and White in South Africa" (1930)
91. Benito Mussolini: "What Is Fascism?" (1932)
92. Hitler's Proclamation to the German Nation (1933)
93. Nuremburg Laws (1935)
94. Lahore Resolution (1940)
95. Twenty Truths of Justicialism (1940s)
96. Fourteen Part Memorandum to U.S. declaring war (1941)
97. Gandhi's  Speech to the All-India Congress (1942)
98. Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945)
99. Winston Churchill: "Iron Curtain" speech (1946)
100. Japanese Constitution (1947)
101. Nehru on Indian Independence (1947)
102. State of Israel Proclamation of Independence (1948)
103. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
104. Indian Constitution (1950)
105. Fidel Castro: "History Will Absolve Me" (1953)
106. Proclamation of the Algerian National Front, Liberation Front (FLN)(1954)
107. Freedom Charter, South Africa (1955)
108. Nasser on nationalization of the Suez Canal (1956)
109. Patrice Lumumba???s Independence Speech (1960)
110. Program of the People's Revolutionary Party of Vietnam (1962)
111. "Mao Tse-Tung's Thought Is the Telescope and Microscope of Our Revolutionary Cause" (1966)
112. Arusha Declaration, Tanzania (1967)
113. UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967)
114. Palestinian National Charter (or Covenant) (1968)
115. Ayatollah Khomeini on Islamic Government (1971)
116. Helsinki Accords (1975)
117. Constitution of the People???s Republic of China (1982)
118. Agreement on Reconciliation, Nonaggression, and Exchanges and Cooperation between South and North Korea (1992)
119. Maastricht Treaty on European Union (1992)
120. Nelson Mandela's Inaugural Address (1994)
121. Osama bin Laden, Declaration of Jihad against Americans (1996)
122. Northern Ireland Peace Agreement (1998)
123. African Union Constitutive Act (2000)