Will & Ariel Durant - The Story of Civilization

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From Wikipedia...



The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant is an eleven-volume set of books. It was written over a lifetime, and it totals two million words. The series is incomplete: in the first book of the series (Our Oriental Heritage, which covers the history of the East through 1933), Mr. Durant stated that he wanted to include the history of the West through the early 20th century. However, the series ends with The Age of Napoleon since the Durants died before any additional volumes could be completed.



Mr. Durant says in his first work, Our Oriental Heritage, "I wish to tell as much as I can, in as little space as I can, of the contributions that genius and labor have made to the cultural heritage of mankind - to chronicle and contemplate, in their causes, character and effects, the advances of invention, the varieties of economic organization, the experiments in government, the aspirations of religion, the mutations of morals and manners, the masterpieces of literature, the development of science, the wisdom of philosophy, and the achievements of art."



Contents

1. 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. 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. Caesar and Christ, a history of Roman civilization and of Christianity from their beginnings to A.D. 325

4. Age of faith, a history of medieval civilization, Christian, Islamic, and Judaic from Constantine to Dante, A.D. 325-1300

5. Renaissance, a history of civilization in Italy from 1304-1576 A.D.

6. Reformation, a history of European civilization from wyclif to Calvin, 1300-1564

7. Age of Reason begins, a history of European civilization it the period of Shakespeare, Bacon, Montaigne, Rembrandt, Galileo, and Descartes, 1558-1648

8. Age of Louis XIV, a history of European civilization in the period of Pascal, Molie?re, Cromwell, Milton, Peter the Great, Newton, and Spinoza, 1648-1715

9. Age of Voltaire, a history of civilization in Western Europe from 1715-1756, with special emphasis on the conflict between religion and philosophy

10. 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 Napoleon, a history of European civilization from 1789-1815.