William Hardy McNeill was an American historian and author who spent much of his career at the University of Chicago, where he held the Robert A. Millikan Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus position. He taught there from 1947 until his retirement in 1987. During his academic career, he also held the George Eastman Professorship at the University of Oxford in 1980-81. McNeill is best known for his influential argument that contact and exchange among civilizations is the primary driver of human historical progress. This thesis was first presented in his major work, The Rise of the West, published in 1963. This perspective shaped much of his scholarly output and contributed significantly to how historians understand the interconnectedness of world civilizations.