What is a good introduction into (western) civilization?
Upvote:4
One might be better off regarding the Durants as the Newton or Maxwell, not the Feynman or Fermi, of history. Newtonian Mechanics and Classical Electromagnetism is just fine for building a highway, or even putting an astronaut into orbit, but will simply mislead in attempts to build semiconductor devices or nuclear reactors.
In your earlier question you rightly identified an anomalous statement by Will Durant, writing in 1935. I see nothing wrong with using the Durants as an introduction to Western Civilization, with the proviso that it is now several decades old. As with any introductory work, for a deeper analysis one should corroborate with more recent publications. Also, always be sure that the resources one chooses for a task are suitable for the intended use.
So in reading any work of history:
- Understand the biases of an author, and of the time in which they wrote; and
- Attempt to recognize the biases of our own time, as we certainly have as many as our predecessors had.
Upvote:6
For the purpose of getting a good thorough grounding in Western ancient history, I highly suggest picking up a copy of Colin McEvedy's The New Penguin Atlas of Ancient History*.
It takes a base map that covers all of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, and shows it on every other page. The only thing that changes on the map is the year it depicts, and the cultural/political boundaries drawn. The other page opposite is a discussion of what happened between the previous map and that one to make it look like that.
One thing you tend to really miss reading most History works is how various societies interrelated with their contemporaries, how they changed over time, and what else was going on around them during those changes. This Atlas gives you those things. When you are done, at a macro level you will feel like Neo: "Whoa...I know history."
In addition it is:
- Relatively short, at about 120 text pages
- An entertaining read (McEvedy was a hell of a writer).
- An invaluable reference.
- Cheap (most I can see it selling for online is $25. $11 is more typical)
Its main drawback is that this is an evolving field, and I believe the last revision was two decades ago. So some details will be a little dated. However, this still gives him at least a few years on the Durants.
* - Goodreads link to the (non-"New") unrevised edition. While the differences are interesting, get the "New" revised edition.
More post
- 📝 When did the US invite Iraqi scientists to study nuclear technology/science?
- 📝 Why didn’t Christianity spread southwards from Ethiopia in the Middle Ages?
- 📝 If adultery was a felony during Hamilton era, why isn't he prosecuted?
- 📝 Was Angkor wat built on top of water?
- 📝 Did the Roman legions wear this type of boots?
- 📝 Nazis and Khazar Theory of Ashkenazi Jews
- 📝 Did the Soviet Union investigate greenhouses in the early 1920's?
- 📝 What did the top minds of the late 17th century have to say about Salem witch trials?
- 📝 Where were the Straits dollars printed?
- 📝 Shantyboat communities on the upper Mississippi River Valley
- 📝 What are the Josephus Greek Epistles?
- 📝 What is the band beneath Nefertitis crown?
- 📝 In 18th century America, how did people board ships to travel long distance?
- 📝 What other pairs of wars have had a ~25 year interval?
- 📝 Why were so many female members of Hapsburg family named Maria something?
- 📝 How did opinions of France and Britain affect American foreign policy up to 1820?
- 📝 Were tobacco and marijuana ever competing products?
- 📝 What is this strange symbol painted on bas*m*nt floor?
- 📝 What happened to the German WW II debt?
- 📝 What was the consequence of Gestapo being declared a criminal organization in the Nuremberg trials in 1945?
- 📝 When Louis I of Hungary died in 1382, why did Polish lords choose Jadwiga instead of Mary as the monarch?
- 📝 Do we know where in Clermont was the second Council of Clermont held?
- 📝 Were there any potential areas around Smolensk that Army Group Center might have found as defensible as the Rzhev line?
- 📝 Did Egyptians circumnavigate Africa in three years during Nekau's reign?
- 📝 Did Yuri Gagarin really hear a ticking sound during his journey into outer space?
- 📝 How educated were the Orthodox priests of Imperial Russia around 1800?
- 📝 What did the Crusaders really wear?
- 📝 Did Soviet Union have the requirement that people submit yearly tax returns?
- 📝 What kind of wood was the standard decking for aircraft carriers in World War 2?
- 📝 Why do revolutions "eat their own?" What is the sociological dynamic here?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What is a good introduction into (western) civilization?
- 📝 What are the largest numerical units that the median-wealthy person in Western civilization was aware of through the centuries?
- 📝 What happened in Rome, when the western empire "fell"?
- 📝 In WWII, what were the major differences in tank combat on the eastern and western fronts?
- 📝 How could Jews integrate into Western modern society back when Saturday was a normal working day?
- 📝 What are good online sources for historical maps?
- 📝 What role did the Eastern Roman Empire play in the fall of the Western Roman Empire?
- 📝 What prevented the Mongolian Empire from expanding into Europe?
- 📝 What was the size of surface of a cereal crop needed per man per year during the Dark Ages in Western Europe?
- 📝 At what age did samurai children start going into battles in the Sengoku era?
- 📝 Did the Huns contribute to the Great Migration of Germanic Peoples into the Western Empire?
- 📝 What new technology/tactics allowed the breakthrough of the trenches in WW I western front?
- 📝 What Roman Republican legal structures lasted into the Empire and which ones didn't?
- 📝 What proportion of the population of Soviet Union were taken into custody by the state during Stalin's time?
- 📝 What races did Americans classify people into during the 1800s?
- 📝 What were the insignia of the Western Roman Empire and what happened to them?
- 📝 Who would have a good or fair command of Latin in medieval Western Europe?
- 📝 What happened to all the scholars and scientists of Western Rome during the barbarian invasions?
- 📝 What plane would have been used to airdrop someone into occupied Europe?
- 📝 What was the significance of the BEF moving into the gap between German forces in First Battle of the Marne?
- 📝 What is the origin of Americans sometimes refering to the Second World War "the Good War"?
- 📝 What is the first example of a Western government passing a sin tax?
- 📝 What did they call Gothic and Baroque architecture before the modern terms came into use?
- 📝 What is the earliest passage that describes Hippocrates' observation that blood stratifies into four layers?
- 📝 What did the end of the western front look like at the Swiss Border?
- 📝 What was the reaction of Western Communist Parties to Kruschev's 1956 speech denouncing Stalin?
- 📝 What name is taken if a man marries into a noble house?
- 📝 What was the Soviet reasoning for developing their Airborne Forces (VDV) into a powerful military branch?
- 📝 What are some major military successes the Soviet Union achieved against the Western World?
- 📝 How much did a good sword cost in Medieval Western Europe?