Table of Contents
List of Diagrams, Figures, Maps, Primary Source Projects, Sources on Families, Tables, and Timelines ix
Acknowledgments xiii
How to Use This Book xv
1 History's Story 1
There's Method 1
What Is Truth? 8
Primary Source Project 1: Thucydides versus von Ranke about the Aim of History 15
2 Wanderers and Settlers: The Ancient Middle East to 400 BC 19
The Apes' Cousins 19
Bound to the Soil 25
The Price of Civilization 30
Sources on Families: Law Code of Hammurabi 37
The Rise and Fall of Practically All Middle Eastern Empires 38
Primary Source Project 2: Xenophon versus Herodotus about Reputation 48
3 The Chosen People: Hebrews and Jews, 2000 BC to AD 135 53
Between and under Empires 53
Primary Source Project 3: Sennacherib's Annalist versus Chronicles Writer about Divine Favor 56
Bound by Law 60
Sources on Family: Deuteronomy 65
4 Trial of the Hellenes: The Ancient Greeks, 1200 BC to AD 146 69
To the Sea 69
The Political Animal 72
Metamorphosis 77
Primary Source Project 4: Athenians versus Melians about the Rules of War 83
The Cultural Conquest 86
Sources on Families: Plato, The Republic 92
5 Imperium Romanum: The Romans, 753 BC to AD 300 95
World Conquest in Self-Defense 95
The Price of Power 101
The Absolutist Solution 104
Primary Source Project 5: Galgacus versus Agricola about Motivations for Battle 112
The Roads to Knowledge 114
Sources on Families: Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Augustus 117
6 The Revolutionary Rabbi: Christianity, the Roman Empire, and Islam, 4 BC to AD 1453 121
The Son of Man 121
Sources on Families: Paul, First Epistle to Timothy 125
The Cultural War 127
Primary Source Project 6: Paul versus Pliny and Trajan about the Value of Christianity 133
Roma Delenda Est 136
Struggle for the Realm of Submission 140
7 From Old Rome to the New West: The Early Middle Ages, AD 500 to 1000 145
Goths in the Garden 145
Primary Source Project 7: Bad Bishops versus Benedict about Moral Rules 152
Sources on Families: Tacitus, Germania 155
Charles in Charge 157
The Cavalry to the Rescue 162
8 The Medieval Melée: The High and Later Middle Ages, 1000 to 1500 169
Return of the Kings 169
Discipline and Domination 177
Sources on Families: Jacobus de Voragine, "The Life of Saint Elizabeth" 181
Plenty of Papal Power 184
Primary Source Project 8: Gregory VII versus Henry IV about Church versus State 189
The Age of Faith and Reason 192
A New Estate 198
Not the End of the World 204
9 Making the Modern World: The Renaissance and Reformation, 1400 to 1648 211
The Purse of Princes 211
Man as the Measure 219
Primary Source Project 9: Witch Hunter versus Confessor about Belief in Witches 225
Heaven Knows 229
Sources on Families: Martin Luther, Table Talk 234
Fatal Beliefs 235
God, Greed, and Glory 243
10 Liberation of Mind and Body: Early Modern Europe, 1543 to 1815 255
Lost in the Stars 255
From the Salons to the Streets 261
Sources on Families: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Émile, or On Education 265
The State Is He (or She) 268
(Prosperous) People Power 276
The Declaration of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity 285
Primary Source Project 10: Declaration of the Rights of Man versus Declaration of the Rights of Woman about Human Rights 290
Blood and Empires 292
11 Mastery of the Machine: The Industrial Revolution, 1764 to 1914 299
Facts of Factories 299
Life in the Jungle 305
Sources on Families: George Sand on the End of Her Marriage 310
Cleaning Up the Mess 312
For the Workers 319
Primary Source Project 11: Smiles versus Owen about the Good Lite 327
The Machinery of Nature 330
12 The Westerner's Burden: Imperialism and Nationalism, 1810 to 1918 337
"New and Improved" Imperialism 337
From Sea to Shining Sea 348
Nationalism's Curse 352
Sources on Families: Ethel Howard, Potsdam Princes 361
The Balkan Cauldron 363
The Great War 368
Primary Source Project 12: "In Flanders Fields" versus "Dulce et Decorum Est" about Death in War 374
13 Rejections of Democracy: The Interwar Years and World War II, 1917 to 1945 377
Decline of the West? 377
Russians in Revolt 384
Losing Their Grip 392
Fascist Fury 396
Hitler's Hatreds 401
Sources on Families: Joseph Goebbels, "German Womanhood" 406
The Roads to Global War 408
Primary Source Project 13: Hitler versus Franklin D. Roosevelt about the Just Society 417
14 A World Divided: The Early Cold War, 1945 to 1980 421
From Friends to Foes 421
Primary Source Project 14: Khrushchev versus Nixon about Competition 429
Making Money 431
Sources on Families: Shirley Chisholm, Speech on Equal Rights 438
To the Brink, Again and Again 440
Letting Go and Holding On 444
American Hegemon 450
The Uneasy Understanding 454
15 Into the Future: The Contemporary Era, 1980 to the Present 459
The Walls Come Down 459
Searching for Stability 464
Different Folks 469
Haves and Cannots 474
Sources on Families: Supreme Court of the United States, Obergefell v. Hodges 479
Values of Violence 482
The Walls Go Up Again 486
Primary Source Project 15: The European Central Bank versus the National Front about the EU 496
Epilogue: Why Western Civilization? 501
Timelines 509
Common Abbreviations 521
Glossary 523
Index 537
About the Author 563