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

by Brian 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:	9781538112526
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/22/2019
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	7.19(w) x 10.06(h) x 0.95(d)
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

Brief Contents v

List of Diagrams, Figures, Maps, Tables, and Timelines viii

Acknowledgments x

How to Use This Book xi

1 History's Story 1

There's Method 1

What Is Truth? 8

9 Making the Modern World: The Renaissance and Reformation, 1400 to 1648 163

The Purse of Princes 163

Man as the Measure 171

Heaven Knows 177

Fatal Beliefs 182

God, Greed, and Glory 189

10 Liberation of Mind and Body: Early Modern Europe, 1543 to 1815 199

Lost in the Stars 199

From the Salons to the Streets 204

The State Is He (or She) 209

(Prosperous) People Power 217

The Declaration of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity 225

Blood and Empires 229

11 Mastery of the Machine: The Industrial Revolution, 1764 to 1914 237

Facts of Factories 238

Life in the Big City 243

Cleaning Up the Mess 247

For the Workers 253

The Machinery of Nature 261

12 The Westerner's Burden: Imperialism and Nationalism, 1810 to 1918 267

"New and Improved" Imperialism 267

From Sea to Shining Sea 276

Nationalism's Curse 280

The Balkan Cauldron 287

The Great War 291

13 Rejections of Democracy: The Interwar Years and World War II, 1918 to 1945 297

Decline of the West? 297

Russians in Revolt 304

Losing Their Grip 311

Fascist Fury 316

Hitler's Hatreds 321

The Roads to Global War 325

14 A World Divided: The Early Cold War, 1945 to 1980 335

From Friends to Foes 335

Making Money 342

To the Brink, Again and Again 349

Letting Go and Holding On 352

American Hegemony 357

The Uneasy Understanding 361

15 Into the Future: The Contemporary Era, 1980 to the Present 365

A Surprise Ending 365

Searching for Stability 370

An Unexpected Revival 374

Haves and Cannots 379

Values of Violence 384

Epilogue: Why Western Civilization? 389

Timelines 397

Common Abbreviations 409

Glossary 411

Suggested Readings 423

Index 429

About the Author 449

What People are Saying About This

William A. Paquette

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.

From the Publisher

This is an exceptionally well-written, engaging, and accessible text. . . . Pavlac includes useful diagrams and charts throughout this text that break down complex information into visual and easy 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 this text is one that students will read, become engaged with, and understand makes it a valuable resource to teachers of Western Civilization.

Christopher M. Bellitto

Pavlac has come up with an effective comparative approach: what's new, what's different, what's changed, what's distinctive. This way of encountering Western civilization without drowning in details will produce students who are well-grounded for upper-division courses.

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"

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, Mercer University

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, Kean University

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. (Previous Edition Praise)--William A. Paquette, Tidewater Community College

From the Publisher

This is an exceptionally well-written, engaging, and accessible text. . . . Pavlac includes useful diagrams and charts throughout this text that break down complex information into visual and easy 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 this text is one that students will read, become engaged with, and understand makes it a valuable resource to teachers of Western Civilization.

Teaching History: A Journal of Methods

Professor Pavlac has come up with an effective comparative approach: what's new, what's different, what's changed, what's distinctive. This way of encountering Western civilization without drowning in details will produce students who are well-grounded for upper-division courses.

Christopher M. Bellitto

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

This is an exceptionally well-written, engaging, and accessible text. . . . Pavlac includes useful diagrams and charts throughout this text that break down complex information into visual and easy 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 this text is one that students will read, become engaged with, and understand makes it a valuable resource to teachers of Western Civilization.

Teaching History