In 1996, Amsterdam University Press published Fred Spier's third book The Structure of Big History: From the Big Bang until today.

This book provides a novel structure for all of history, with special attention to the question of how human history fits into this larger scheme. The proposed structure helps to better understand how everything in the Universe has become the way it is now, as well as of how all these different aspects are related.

The Structure of Big History has received international recognition, ranging from Argentina to Australia. It is currently used in the United States (University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at Santa Cruz, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Georgia State University and the University of the Pacific, Stockton) in Great Britain (University of Newcastle) and in Australia (Macquarie University, Sydney). In 1998, the German edition Big History: Was die Geschichte im Innersten zusammenhält appeared. In 1999, the extended Dutch translation Geschiedenis in het Groot: Een alomvattende visie, was put into print, while in the same year, major parts of the argument were published in Russian.


Praise for The Structure of Big History

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"A slim, insightful volume linking social and natural science studies of the past"
Eric Chaisson, Professor of Physics, Tufts University, United States

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"Engagingly modest but surprisingly effective"
Jon Turney, New Scientist, October 4, 1997

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"A wonderfully adventurous enterprise. Spier is working towards the construction of a sort of `Grand Unified Theory' of the past. I firmly believe that this is a project that should attract the support and interest of any scholar with a serious interest in historical modes of thought."
David Christian, Professor of Modern History, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

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"An ambitious and deeply intelligent attempt to see how history can be integrated more effectively with other scientific disciplines"
Compass History: World History editors' choice

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"Genuinely brilliant"
William H. McNeill, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Chicago, United States