ABSTRACT
I am writing this chapter at the end of 2014, just months before Bloomsbury will publish the rst two volumes of my World History of Design . The books span the extended period of time from the rst toolmakers, even before humans emerged, to the end of the Second World War. The third and nal volume, which will address the period from the end of the Second World War until the early twenty- rst century, is still in progress. The volumes include much material that was originally new to me. When I began to teach design history at the University of Illinois, Chicago at the beginning of the 1980s, the narrative structure of most design history courses and programs was focused on the United States and Europe. I organized my survey course around that narrative, including both product design and graphic design to accommodate the range of students in my classes. I must admit that I developed a basic format for my course when I rst started teaching and did not alter it signi cantly during my career of more than twenty- ve years.
