Book excerpt: Rivers in the Mediterranean have always been hotspots of social formation. From antiquity to the present, rivers were important sources of fresh water, transport routes and energy suppliers as well as spaces of interaction between sea, coast and hinterland. This volume takes up recent debates on the spatial turn and global history, which have fundamentally changed notions of the Mediterranean as a natural given and of larger areas as well-defined entities. After an introduction to the relevant research contexts, it offers a collection of articles on the conceptualization of river histories, the Mediterranean and its rivers, and river studies from around the globe.