Synopses & Reviews
WESTERN CIVILIZATION: A BRIEF HISTORY, Seventh Edition, maintains a firm grounding in political history, while covering intellectual history (particularly the significance of ideas and contributions) to a greater and deeper extent than any other text for the course. Author Marvin Perry's accessible writing style and flexible approach make this abridged version of WESTERN CIVILIZATION: IDEAS, POLITICS AND SOCIETY an engaging text for instructors and students of the Western Civilization survey course. The most significant addition for the Seventh Edition is the insertion in every chapter of a primary source that illuminates the narrative. The Seventh Edition incorporates current scholarship and new material on the scholarly debate of Biblical minimalists who question the historicity of the Exodus, Christian-Roman and Christian-Jewish relations, nationalism and racial nationalism, the question of responsibility for World War I, communist and Nazi efforts at total control, the European Union, Russia today, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Al Qaeda and Islamic terrorism. Additionally, a new section dealing with Muslim immigrants in Europe and anti-Semitism has been added to this edition.
Synopsis
Western Civilization: A Brief History, 6/e, maintains a firm grounding in political history, while covering intellectual history (particularly the significance of ideas and contributions) to a greater and deeper extent than any other text for the course. Author Marvin Perry's accessible writing style and flexible approach make this abridged version of Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics and Society an engaging text for instructors and students of the Western Civilization survey course. The Sixth Edition incorporates current scholarship and new material on the First Crusade, the treatment of Jews, Christianity and classical humanism, and a fully revised and expanded section on "The Enlightenment and the Modern Mentality." Additional content highlights Muslim artistic and cultural contributions, the French Revolution and Reign of Terror, modern artists, the Russian Revolution, and the battles of World War II.
About the Author
Marvin Perry, now retired, taught history at Baruch College, City University of New York. He has published several successful Cengage Learning texts, including WESTERN CIVILIZATION: IDEAS, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY (senior author and general editor); WESTERN CIVILIZATION: A BRIEF HISTORY; the leading Western Civilization reader, SOURCES OF THE WESTERN TRADITION; AN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE; SOURCES OF EUROPEAN HISTORY SINCE 1900 (senior editor); HUMANITIES IN THE WESTERN TRADITION (senior author and general editor); and WORLD WAR II IN EUROPE: A CONCISE HISTORY. His scholarly work includes ARNOLD TOYNBEE AND THE WESTERN TRADITION (1996); coauthor of ANTISEMITISM: MYTH AND HATE FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE PRESENT (2002); coeditor of ANTISEMITIC MYTHS: A HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY ANTHOLOGY (2008); and coeditor of THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM: AN ANTHOLOGY (2008). Dr. Perry's scholarly work focuses on the history of ideas.
Table of Contents
I. THE ANCIENT WORLD: FOUNDATION OF THE WEST TO A.D.500. 1. The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations. 2. The Hebrews: A New View of God and the Individual. 3. The Greeks: From Myth to Reason. 4. Rome: From City-State to World Empire. 5. Early Christianity: A World Religion. II. THE MINDDLE AGES: THE CHRISTIAN CENTURIES 500-1400. 6. The Rise of Europe: Fusion of Classical, Christian, and Germanic Traditions. 7. The Flowering and Dissolution of Medieval Civilization. III. THE RISE OF MODERNITY: FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE ENLIGHTENMENT 1350-1789. 8. Transition to the Modern