Introduction: The long and the short road to the sustainable development goals

1. SDG 1 - On the origins of the idea of ending poverty

2. SDG 2 - The elusive global quest to end hunger

3. SDG 3 - Historical perspectives on health and well being as international policy goals

4. SDG 4 - Global education unfolding: Concepts, Emergence, Objectives

5. SDG 5 - A long, short and unfinished history of the journey to gender equality

6. SDG 6 - Changing international policies on safe water and sanitation after the Second World War

7. SDG 7 - A history of fossil fuel consumption and its replacement with renewable sources of energy