Leonid E. Grinin

Barry H. Rodrigue

Аndrey V. Korotayev

This issue of the almanac aims at filling the gap in the mega-evolutionary research. The Editors believe that the present Almanac, which brings together scientists working in different areas of the vast evolutionary field, will hopefully make a contribution to this process.The contributions to this volume are subdivided into three sections:‘Universal Evolution’, ‘Biological and Social Forms of Evolution: Connections and Comparisons’, and ‘Aspects of Social Evolution’. Subjects and issues of the contributions to all three sections have a great deal in common and significantly supplement each other.

Evolution: A Big History Perspective

"The story of Tom Plant (1859-1941) gives us a gritty, real-life view of the American dream. Born into a poor French-Canadian family in Bath, Maine on the eve of the Civil War, he began his career as a boy laborer, cutting ice on the Kennebec River. Tom then became a union shoe maker in the "shoe capital of the world," in Massachusetts, financing his first workshop with a baseball wager. He went on to pioneer new trends in American business and to build the world's largest shoe factory. An inventor, his name became front-page news in the New York Times during a fight with the most notorious monopoly in the United States. A celebrated outdoorsman, he laid out a vast estate on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, as well as a retirement home for workers in his hometown. An advocate of the progressive movement, Tom Plant spoke for a new, pragmatic America, one based on fairness in the workplace, conservation of nature, plural heritage, and global harmony. His denouement was as surprising as his triumph." --Publisher's description.

Barry H. Rodrigue

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