Our world today has become so globalized, so socially and technologically complex that current ideas and institutions haven't enabled us to address our most pressing problems. From global warming to possible food, water, and energy shortages, these challenges demand international cooperation; yet, that cooperation has proven impossible among today's nations. This is not the first time in world history that existing societies could not address the challenges of rapid change. In The Axial Ages of World History, Ken Baskin and Dmitri M. Bondrenko compare the modern world's dilemma with that of a...