His style is a good mix of history as literature and history as a science. However, I surmise that it wont require heavy note taking or anything because these books are a fun read. That being said, he does require that the reader do some work and remember people and events.
He is amazingly concise while still making his points. The style of the books is conversational and peppered with puns and overall enjoyable to read. His work presents all of recorded history not as chronology and not as a sequence of events but as a progression of people. This is the main constant of the Story of Civilization: Durant sees civilization as a network of real people interacting. While he doesn't make excuses villains of history he makes sure he humanizes each person mentioned. His books exude his philosophical inclinations and are far more enjoyable for optimistic view of man evolving towards greatness through the ages.ĭurant paints each historical character has a real human being with the complexities of character we all have. I believe he saw that seeing the greatness of man's record (history) was more valuable and enriching than speculating on what man might be (philosophy). He was good at it but he, Like myself, saw the intertwining of history and philosophy. Will Durant began his intellectually adventurous life attempting to be a philosopher. Overall I rate them very highly and would suggest them to the interested non historian and implore the budding historian to read them since it is doubtless they will enjoy them. The books are organized in such a way that they can be read as individual works or be read out of sequence with no loss to their meaning. The Story of Civilization is an excellent history and the most complete result of the ambitious goal of writing a world history. Unprecedented and unparalleled! I rate it at five stars. This set is a fantastic collection and if you are looking to find an all encompassing treatise of world history, this where to start. It is the equivalent of one-stop shopping. When I opened the box I was surprised to find an additional bonus book or "twelfth" volume entitled "The Lessons of History."įor the student of history, instead of paying a fortune collecting piecemeal books that cover various historical events and eras, buy this set instead. I was fortunate to purchase the entire set at a chain national bookseller who was discounting the books by over 50%. It will take some time to read through this incredible recount of history, but it is worth it. The Story of Civilization is brought to life in eleven volumes: (1) Our Oriental Heritage (2) The Life of Greece (3) Caesar and Christ (4) The Age of Faith (5) The Renaissance (6) The Reformation (7) The Age of Reason Begins (8) The Age of Louis XIV (9) The Age of Voltaire (10) Rousseau & Revolution and (11) The Age of Napoleon. Will Durant and his wife Ariel have created the twentieth century's classic masterwork of history for the general reader.
Age of Napoleon, a history of European civilization from 1789-1815.Dr.
Rousseau and revolution, a history of civilization in France, England, and Germany from 1756, and in the remainder of Europe from 1715, to 1789 -11. Age of Voltaire, a history of civilization in Western Europe from 1715-1756, with special emphasis on the conflict between religion and philosophy -10. Age of Louis XIV, a history of European civilization in the period of Pascal, Moliere, Cromwell, Milton, Peter the Great, Newton, and Spinoza, 1648-1715 -9. Age of Reason begins, a history of European civilization in the period of Shakespeare, Bacon, Montaigne, Rembrandt, Galileo, and Descartes, 1558-1648 -8. Reformation, a history of European civilization from Wyclif to Calvin, 1300-1564 -7. Renaissance, a history of civilization in Italy from 1304-1576 A.D. Age of faith, a history of medieval civilization, Christian, Islamic, and Judaic from Constantine to Dante, A.D. Caesar and Christ, a history of Roman civilization and of Christianity from their beginnings to A.D. Life of Greece, being a history of Greek civilization from the beginnings, and of civilization in the Near East from the death of Alexander, to the Roman conquest, with an introduction on the prehistoric culture of Crete -3. Our Oriental heritage, being a history of civilization in Egypt and the Near East to the death of Alexander, and in India, China and Japan from the beginning to our own day, with an introduction on the nature and foundations of civilization -2. (Please note that this is a large, heavy set that will requires additional postage for international delivery outside of the US. Bound in publisher's red cloth, with gold lettering.
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