Civilization in the West blends social and political history into a fascinating narrative that brings history to life. The authors tell a compelling story of Western Civilization that is enhanced by an image-based approach. “The Visual Record” chapter openers draw students in by illustrating a dominant theme of the chapter and exploring the dramatic impression each image makes in reinforcing that theme. The presentation of geography guides students around the changing contours of the West through both standard maps and Geographic Tours of Europe. Discovering Western Civilization Online end-of-chapter Web site URLs make this the first Western Civilization book to include these resources.

Table of Contents:
Volume I includes Chapters 1-16, Volume II includes Chapters 14-30, Volume A includes Chapters 1-11, Volume B includes Chapters 11-22, and Volume C includes Chapters 20-30. Introduction: The Idea of Western Civilization. 1. The First Civilizations. Otzi's Last Meal: Life and Death in Prehistoric Europe. Before Civilization. The Gift of the Nile. Between Two Worlds. Nineveh and Babylon. A Closer Look: Discovering the Pharaohs. 2. Early Greece, 2500-500 B.C.E. Hecuba and Achilles: The Birth of Greek Civilization. Greece in the Bronze Age to 700 B.C.E. Archaic Greece, 700-500 B.C.E. A Tale of Three Cities. The Coming of Persia and the End of the Archaic Age. A Closer Look: The Agony of Athletics. 3. Classical and Hellenistic Greece, 500-100 B.C.E. Alexander at Issus: The Spread of Greek Civilization. War and Politics in the Fifth Century B.C.E. Athenian Culture in the Hellenic Age. From City-States to Macedonian Empire, 404-323 B.C.E. The Hellenistic World. A Closer Look: Technology and Innovation. 4. Early Rome and the Roman Republic, 800-146 B.C.E. Eternal Rome: From Village to Empire. The Western Mediterranean to 509 B.C.E. From City to Empire, 509-146 B.C.E. Republican Civilization. The Crisis of Roman Virtue. A Closer Look: Hannibal's Elephants. 5. Imperial Rome, 146 B.C.E.-C.E. 192. The Altar of Augustan Peace: The Making of the Roman Empire. The Price of Empire. The End of the Republic. The Augustan Age and the Pax Romana. Geographical Tour: A Tour of the Empire. A Closer Look: A Day in the Pax Romana. 6. The Transformation of The Classical World. A Bride's Trousseau: The Marriage of Christianity and the Classical Tradition. The Crisis of the Third Century. The Empire Restored. Imperial Christianity. A Parting of the Ways. A Closer Look: The Stainless Star of Wisdom's Discipline. 7. The Classical Legacy in The East: Byzantium and Islam. From Temple to Mosque: The Continuity of Civilization in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Byzantines. The Rise of Islam. The Byzantine Apogee and Decline 1000-1453. A Closer Look: Harems and Gynaiconites. 8. The West in the Early Middle Ages, 500-900. The Chapel at the Waters: The Western Empire Reborn. The Making of the Barbarian Kingdoms, 500-750. Living in the New Europe. The Carolingian Achievement. Geographical Tour: Europe in the Ninth Century. After the Carolingians: From Empire to Lordships. A Closer Look: The Jews in the Early Middle Ages. 9. The High Middle Ages. The Royal Tombs at Fontevrault: A Queen and Her Kings. The Countryside. Medieval Towns. The Invention of the State. A Closer Look: Cathedrals of Light. 10. The Later Middle Ages, 1300-1500. Webs of Stone and Blood: European Civilization at the End of the Middle Ages. Politics as a Family Affair. The Spirit of the Later Middle Ages. A Closer Look: A Room of One's Own. 11. The Italian Renaissance. A Civic Procession: Community Building in Renaissance Venice. Renaissance Society. Renaissance Art. Renaissance Ideals. A Closer Look: The Fall of Constantinople. 12. The European Empires. Ptolemy's World: The Age of Discovery. European Encounters. The Formation of States. The Dynastic Struggles. A Closer Look: Isabella of Castile. 13. The Reform of Religion. Sola Scriptura: The Bible and the Reformation. The Intellectual Reformation. The Lutheran Reformation. The Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Reformation. A Closer Look: Utopia. 14. Europe at War, 1555-1648. The Massacre of the Innocents: War and European Society. The Crises of the Western States. The Struggles in Eastern Europe. The Thirty Years' War 1618-48. A Closer Look: The Monstrous Regiment of Women. 15. The Experiences of Life in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1650. Haymaking: Agriculture in a European Community. Economic Life. Social Life. Private Life. A Closer Look: Sex and the Married Man. 16. The Royal State in the Seventeenth Century. Fit for a King: The Grandeur of the European Monarchy. The Rise of the Royal State. The Crises of the Royal State. The Zenith of the Royal State. A Closer Look: “King Charles's Head.” 17. Science and Commerce in Early Modern Europe. Rembrandt's Lessons: Anatomy and the New Science. The New Science. Empires of Goods. The Wars of Commerce. A Closer Look: The Dutch Tulip Mania of the Seventeenth Century. 18. The Balance of Power in Eighteenth-Century Europe. A Dashing Officer: The Rise of Militarism. Geographical Tours of Europe: A Grand Tour of Europe in 1714. The Rise of Russia. The Two Germanies. The Greatness of Britain. A Closer Look: Catherine Before She Was Great. 19. Culture and Society in Eighteenth-Century Europe. Happy Families: An Enlightenment Institution. Eighteenth-Century Culture. Eighteenth-Century Society. A Closer Look: Giving Birth in the Eighteenth Century. 20. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era, 1789-1815. Eighteenth Century Revolution. The Crisis of the Old Regime in France, 1715-88. The First Stage of the French Revolution, 1789-92. Experimenting with Democracy: The Revolution's Second Stage, 1792-99. The Reign of Napoleon, 1799-1815. A Closer Look: The Guillotine and Revolutionary Justice. 21. Industrial Europe. An Iron Forge: Machinery and Industrialization The Traditional Economy. The Industrial Revolution in Britain. The Industrialization of the Continent. A Closer Look: Industry and the Environment. 22. Social Transformations and Political Upheavals, 1815-1850. Potato Politics: The Plight of the Poor in European Societies. Geographical Tour: Europe in 1815. The New Ideologies. Protest and Revolution. Causes of Social Instability. A Closer Look: The Birth of the Prison. 23. State-Building and Social Change in Europe, 1850-1871. The Birth of the German Empire. Reforming European Society. Changing Values and the Force of New Ideas. 24. The Crisis of European Culture, 1871-1914. Speeding to the Future. Outsiders in Mass Politics. Shaping the New Consciousness. 25. Europe and the World, 1870-1914. The Politics of Mapmaking. The European Search for Territory and Markets. Results of a European-Dominated World. Conflict at Home: The European Balance of Power. 26. War and Revolution, 1914-1920. Selling the Great War. The War Europe Got. Adjusting to the Unexpected: Total War. Reshaping Europe: After War and Revolution. 27. The European Search For Stability, 1920-1939. The School of Hardknocks. The Soviet Union's Separate Path. The Promise of Fascism. Hitler and the Third Reich. Democracies in Crisis. 28. Global Conflagration: Hot War and Cold War. Building Bombs. Racism and Destruction. Allied Victory. 29. Postwar Recovery and Crisis: From the Cold War to the New Europe, to 1989. Utopia Lost. Reconstructing Europe. Creating the Welfare State. Youth Culture and the Generation Gap. 30. The West Faces The New Century, 1989 to the Present. Lost in Space. War in the Balkans. The West in the Global Community.