William H. McNeill's seminal book The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community (1963) received the National Book Award in 1964 and was named one of the 100 best nonfiction books of the twentieth century by the Modern Library. From his post at the University of Chicago, McNeill became the first contemporary North American historian to write world history in the light of anthropological, epidemiological, and technological ideas. A candid, intellectual memoir from one of the most famous and influential historians of our era, The Pursuit of Truth maps the life and career of a man who changed the way the discipline of history is understood and taught in America.