For an undergraduate introductory level course in the humanities. Humanities narrated in a story-telling approach. The Humanities: Culture, Continuity & Change Vol 1, covering the humanities from prehistory to 1600, helps students see context and make connections across the humanities by tying together the entire cultural experience through a narrative storytelling approach. Written around Henry Sayre’s belief that students learn best by remembering stories rather than memorizing facts, it captures the voices that have shaped and influenced human thinking and creativity throughout our history.

Table of Contents:
Book I: The Ancient World and the Classical Past: Prehistory to 200 CE 1 The Rise of Culture: From Forest to Farm The Beginnings of Culture [as in 1e] The Rise of Agriculture Neolithic Megaliths [as in 1e] Neolithic Cultures of the Americas [with expanded section on emergence tales, including discussion of the Japanese Kojiki] Focus: Stonehenge C & C:  Representing the Power of the Animal World 2 Mesopotamia: Power and Social Order in the Early Middle East Mesopotamia [Sumeria, Akkad, Babylon, Assyria, and Mesopotamian Literature] The Hebrews and Neo-Babylonia Focus:  The Invention of Writing: Cuneiform Writing in Sumeria and Calligraphy in China C & C: The Stability of Egyptian Culture 3 The Stability of Ancient Egypt: Flood and Sun  The Nile and Its Culture [Old, Middle and New Kingdoms] Focus: Reading The Palette of Narmer C & C: Egyptian and Greek Sculpture 4 The Aegean World and the Rise of Greece: Trade, War, and Victory The Cyclades Minoan Culture in the Peloponnese Aegean Languages and the Phoenician Alphabet The Homeric Epics Hesiod and Rural Greek Culture The Polis The Athens  of Peisistratus Persepolis and the Persian Wars Focus: The Classical Orders C & C:  Egyptian and Greek Sculpture 5 Golden Age Athens and the Hellenic World: The School of Hellas  The Politics of Athens  Rebuilding the Acropolis  Philosophy and the Polis  The Theater of the People  The Hellenistic World  Alexander and the Early Maurya India  Focus: The Parthenon  C & C: Golden Age Athens as an Ideal in Western Thought 6 Rome: Urban Life and Imperial Majesty Origins of Roman Culture Republican Rome Imperial Rome Focus : The Roman Forum C & C: The Roman Legacy    7 Other Empires: Urban Life and Imperial Majesty in China and India Early Chinese Culture Imperial China Hinduism and the Vedic Tradition in India Buddhism: “The Path of Truth” Focus: The Tomb of Shihuanghui C & C: The Silk Road   Book 2:  The Medieval World and the Shaping of Culture: 200 CE to 1400 8 The Flowering of Christianity: Faith and the Power of Belief in the Early First Millennium Developments in Judaic Culture The Rise of Christianity The Byzantine Empire and the Church Focus: The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus C & C: Iconoclasm and the Threat of Islam 9 The Rise and Spread of Islam: A New Religion The Prophet Muhammad The Spread of Islam Islam in Africa and Spain The Arts of the Islamic World  Focus: The Bismillah and the Art of Calligraphy  C & C: The Islamic Heritage 10 Fiefdom and Monastery, Pilgrimage and Crusade: The Early Medieval World in Europe The Merging of Germanic and Roman Styles in Anglo-Saxon Culture The Growing Refinement of Carolingian Culture Pilgrimage Churches and the Romanesque The Crusades and the Culture of Romance Focus: The Bayeux Tapestry C & C: Pilgrimage and Culture: The Monastery at Cluny and the Ise Shrine 11 Centers of Culture: Court and City in the Larger World Courtly Refinement in the Heian Period in Japan The Tang Dynasty in Chang’an [expanded from 5e] The Song Dynasty and Hangzhou, “The City of Heaven” Southeast Asia: Trade and the Confluence of Cultures [based on current exhibition of Vietnamese art at the Houston Museum of Fine Art] The Cultures of Mesoamerica in the Classic Era [connect with analogy between Chang’an and Teotihuacán as urban centers] The Cultures of Africa Focus: Guo Xi’s Early Spring C & C: Toward a New Urban Style: The Gothic in Europe   12 The Gothic Style: Faith and Knowledge in an Age of Inquiry The Gothic Cathedral The Rise of the University The Radiant Style and the Court of Louis IX Focus: The Stained Glass at Chartres C & C: Representing the Human 13 Siena and Florence in the Fourteenth Century: Toward a New Humanism Civic and Religious Life in Siena and Florence Painting in Italy: A  Growing Naturalism Painting in China: The Two Schools The Spread of Vernacular Literature in Europe The Black Death and Its Aftermath Contemporary Perspectives:  Pat Steir’s Yellow and Blue One-Stroke Waterfall, 1992  Focus: Giotto’s Arena Chapel C & C: The Influence of Zen Buddhism Book 3:  The Renaissance and the Age of Encounter: 1400 to 1600 14 Florence and the Early Renaissance: Humanism in Italy Scientific Perspective and Naturalistic Representation The Medici Family and Humanism Beyond Florence: The Ducal Courts and the Arts Women in Italian Humanist Society Florence after the Medici: The New Republic From Florence to Rome: The High Renaissance The Cosmopolitan City: Venice and the Collision of Cultures Focus:  Brunelleschi’s Dome C & C: Michelangelo in Rome 15 The High Renaissance in Rome and Venice: Papal Patronage The Arts of the Papal Court The Medici Popes and the Perfect Prince The Scuole,  Painting, and the Venetian Style Literature and Music of the Venetian High Renaissance Andrea Palladio and the New Rural Architecture Focus: Raphael’s School of Athens C & C: The Self-Portrait 16 The Renaissance in the North: Between Wealth and Want Art, Commerce, and Merchant Patronage The Literature of Ambiguity Tapestry, Dance, and Music in Northern Europe The German Tradition Focus: Bosch’s Garden of Early Delights C&C: The Modern Devotion and a New Austerity in Art 17 The Reformation: A New Church and the Arts Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation The Spread of the Reformation The Printing Press: A Force for Ideas and Art From Religious to Secular Art Contemporary Perspectives:  Bill Viola’s Observance, 2002 [based on Dürer’s Four Apostles] Focus: Dürer’s Adam and Eve C & C: The Catholic Church Strikes Back 18 Encounter and Confrontation: The Impact of Increasing Global Interaction The Spanish, the Aztec, and the Inca Empires West African Culture and the Portuguese The Mughal Empire in India The Rise of the Ming Dynasty under Zhu Di [expanded from Chap. 23] The Muromachi, the Momoyama, and the Closing of Japan Focus: Cover page of the Codex Féjervárt-Mayer C & C: The “Other” and the Imperial Imagination 19 England in the Tudor Age: “This Other Eden” The Reign of Henry VIII Erasmus and the Humanist Impulse in England Elizabethan England and the Elizabethan Stage The English, French, and Dutch in North America Focus: Holbein’s The Ambassadors C & C: The New Universe   20 The Early Counter-Reformation and Mannerism: Restraint and Invention The Counter-Reformation Michelangelo and the Rise of Mannerisim Mannerism and the Question of Decorum Inquisition and Innovation Focus: Bronzino’s Allegory with Venus and Cupid C & C: The Frenzy of Inspiration