A Concise Survey of Western Civilization: Supremacies and Diversities throughout History

by Brian A. Pavlac

Overview

This lively text offers a brief history of Western civilization. Providing a focused narrative and interpretive structure, Pavlac uses the joined terms “supremacies and diversities” to develop themes of conflict and creativity. His easily accessible yet deeply knowledgeable book covers the basic information that all educated adults should know.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538112540
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/22/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Brian A. Pavlac has recently retired as professor of history at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he has served as chair of the department and a Herve A. LeBlanc Distinguished Service Professor. He is the author of Witch Hunts in the Western World: Persecution and Punishment from the Inquisition to the Salem Trials; coauthor with Elizabeth S. Lott of The Holy Roman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia; translator of A Warrior Bishop of the 12th Century: The Deeds of Albero of Trier, by Balderich; and editor of Game of Thrones versus History: Written in Blood.

Table of Contents

List of Diagrams, Figures, Maps, Primary Source Projects, Sources on Families, Tables, and Timelines

Acknowledgments

How to Use This Book

1. History’s Story
There’s Method
What Is Truth?
Primary Source Project 1: Thucydides versus von Ranke about the Aim of History

2. Wanderers and Settlers: The Ancient Middle East to 400 BC
The Apes’ Cousins
Bound to the Soil
The Price of Civilization
Sources on Families: Law Code of Hammurabi
The Rise and Fall of Practically All Middle Eastern Empires
Primary Source Project 2: Xenophon versus Herodotus about Reputation

3. The Chosen People: Hebrews and Jews, 2000 BC to AD 135
Between and under Empires
Primary Source Project 3: Sennacherib’s Annalist versus Chronicles Writer about Divine Favor
Bound by Law
Sources on Family: Deuteronomy

4. Trial of the Hellenes: The Ancient Greeks, 1200 BC to AD 146
To the Sea
The Political Animal
Metamorphosis
Primary Source Project 4: Athenians versus Melians about the Rules of War
The Cultural Conquest
Sources on Families: Plato, The Republic

5. Imperium Romanum: The Romans, 753 BC to AD 300
World Conquest in Self-Defense
The Price of Power
The Absolutist Solution
Primary Source Project 5: Galgacus versus Agricola about Motivations for Battle
The Roads to Knowledge
Sources on Families: Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Augustus

6. The Revolutionary Rabbi: Christianity, the Roman Empire, and Islam, 4 BC to AD 1453
The Son of Man
Sources on Families: Paul, First Epistle to Timothy
The Cultural War
Primary Source Project 6: Paul versus Pliny and Trajan about the Value of Christianity
Roma Delenda Est
Struggle for the Realm of Submission

7. From Old Rome to the New West: The Early Middle Ages, AD 500 to 1000
Goths in the Garden
Primary Source Project 7: Bad Bishops versus Benedict about Moral Rules
Sources on Families: Tacitus, Germania
Charles in Charge
The Cavalry to the Rescue

8. The Medieval Mêlée: The High and Later Middle Ages, 1000 to 1500
Return of the Kings
Discipline and Domination
Sources on Families: Jacobus de Voragine, “The Life of Saint Elizabeth”
Plenty of Papal Power
Primary Source Project 8: Gregory VII versus Henry IV about Church versus State
The Age of Faith and Reason
A New Estate
Not the End of the World

9. Making the Modern World: The Renaissance and Reformation, 1400 to 1648
The Purse of Princes
Man as the Measure
Primary Source Project 9: Witch Hunter versus Confessor about Belief in Witches
Heaven Knows
Sources on Families: Martin Luther, Table Talk
Fatal Beliefs
God, Greed, and Glory

Epilogue: Why Western Civilization?

Timelines

Common Abbreviations

Glossary

Index

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Exceptionally well-written, engaging, and accessible.. .. Pavlac includes useful diagrams and charts throughout.. . that break down complex information into visual and easy-to-digest parts.. .. Perhaps the most important attribute of A Concise History of Western Civilization is that this is a text that students would actually read and understand. For many history professors, the first and most fundamental struggle is getting students to read and furthermore to read critically. Thus, the fact that the book is one that students will read, become engaged with, and understand makes it a valuable resource to teachers of Western Civilization. (Previous Edition Praise)

Teaching History: A Journal of Methods

Written with the skill of a novelist, this book guides the reader step by step through the process of what a historian thinks, does, and interprets. Chapter content establishes the foundation for each future chapter with carefully selected questions, key word definitions, and ideas in bold type. This is the best-written textbook on Western civilization that I have had the pleasure to read in thirty-five years of teaching.

William A. Paquette

The book’s conciseness and reasonable cost are very attractive. For a single-semester course that spans the three millennia, I preferred this book to competing texts, which are just too long, with too many ‘facts.’ Pavlac’s writing is also a plus. His informal tone and his skillful movement from paragraph to paragraph give his work a readability that my students like very much.(Previous Edition Praise)

Robert Good

This book is the way to go for a one-semester course: a text that’s full, but not dense. It’s well-informed and intelligently written, yet still accessible. The big-picture approach combined with guided questions keep students on track, while the writing is lively, anecdotal, and illustrative—a nice balance of the forest and trees. The concise nature of the text makes it particularly suitable for online or condensed semesters.(Previous Edition Praise)

Christopher M. Bellitto

I liked the first edition, and I love the second. Concise, clear, with lively text, this new edition adds useful primary sources while retaining the strengths of the earlier edition.Brian Pavlac does an exceptional job in demonstrating to students how historians work, while providing them the tools to begin their own forays into the thickets of history.

Judith Travers