The West A Narrative History, Combined Volume

by Frankforter, A. Daniel; Spellman, William M.

• ISBN13: 9780136056348
• ISBN10: 0136056342
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-08-06
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

The West: a Narrative Historyis a unique text in its field, as it was conceived and developed as a brief introduction to the history of theWest. It is not a reduced version of a larger study, but a fully realized project in its own right. It defines theWestin its broadest terms, encompassing all of the varied cultures that trace at least some of their ancestry to the ancient Mediterranean world. In addition, it consistently reminds its readers of the links between the people who have come to define theWestand those in other regions of the world

Author Biography

A. Daniel Frankforter is Professor of History at the Pennsylvania State University, where he has taught for nearly four decades.  His undergraduate work was in the history of ideas and philosophy at Franklin and Marshall College.  He earned a Master of Divinity degree from Drew University, did graduate work at Columbia University and the University of Göttingen and completed master’s and doctoral degrees in medieval history and religious studies at Penn State.  His research has focused on the medieval English Church and on the evolving role of European women throughout the medieval period.  Articles on these topics have appeared in such journals as Manuscripta, Church History, The British Studies Monitor, The Catholic Historical Review, The American Benedictine Review, The International Journal of Women’s Studies, and The Journal of Women’s History.  His books include: A History of the Christian Movement: An Essay on the Development of Christian Institutions, Civilization and Survival, The Shakespeare Name Dictionary (with J. Madison Davis), The Medieval Millennium: An Introduction, The Western Heritage, Brief Edition (with Donald Kagan, Stephen Ozment, and Frank Turner), The Heritage of World Civilizations, brief third edition (with Albert Craig, William Graham, Donald Kagan, Stephen Ozment, and Frank Turner), an edition and translation of Poullain de la Barre’s De L’Égalité des deux Sexes, and Stones for Bread: A Critique of Contemporary Worship.  Over the course of his career he has developed 15 courses dealing with aspects of the ancient and medieval periods of Western civilization, Judeo-Christian studies, and gender issues.  His work in the classroom has been acknowledged by the Penn State Behrend Excellence in Teaching Award and the prestigious Amoco Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching Performance.

 

 

William M. Spellman is the Dean of Humanities at the University of North Carolina, Asheville.  He is a graduate of Suffolk University, Boston, and holds the Ph.D. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.  He is the author of John Locke and the Problem of Depravity (Oxford, 1988); The Latitudinarians and the Church of England, 1660-1700 (Georgia, 1993); John Locke (Macmillan, 1995); European Political Thought, 1600-1700 (Macmillan, 1997); Monarchies, 1000-2000 (Reaktion Press, 2000); Extraordinary Women of the Medieval and Renaissance World (Greenwood Press, 2000) co-authored with Carole Levin, et. al.; The Global Community: Migration and the Making of the Modern World, 1500-2000 (Sutton, 2002); A Concise History of the World Since 1945 (Palgrave, 2006); and Migration and the Nation State (Reaktion Press, forthcoming).

 

Table of Contents

The West: Culture and Ideas

Introduction

Departure Prehistory to 1000 bce

The Birth of Civilization

Larger Issue: How do environments shape human communities and human communities alter environments?

The Evolution of the Prehistoric Cultures

The Archaic States

The Origin of Civilization in Mesopotamia: Sumer

The Rise of Civilization in Egypt

The Rise of Empires and the Beginning of the Iron Age

Larger Issue: Does civilization promote or intensify divisions among peoples?

The Transition States

Imperial Egypt: The New Kingdom

The Indo-Europeans and the Clash of Empires

The Bible and History

The Classical Era 2000 bce to 30 ce

Aegean Civilizations

Larger Issue: When does civilization in the West become Western civilization?

Minoan Mentors

The Mycenaeans, Greeces First Civilization

The Aegean Dark Age

The Hellenic Era

The Rise of the Mainland Powers

The Persian Wars: Crucible of a Civilization

The Hellenic Era

Larger Issue: What did the Greeks contribute to the development of modern civilization?

Persian Wars as Catalyst

The Peloponnesian War

Intellectual and Artistic Life in the Polis

The Hellenistic Era and the Rise of Rome

Larger Issue: What circumstances are likely to undermine governments by the people?

The Hellenistic Era

The Origin of Rome

The Roman Republic

Romes Civil War

Romes Empire and the Unification of the Western World

Larger Issue: Do people prefer order to liberty?

The Augustan Era

Order and Continuity: The Dynastic Option

Order and Continuity: The Elective Option

Life in an Imperial Environment

The Decline of Rome

The Division of the West 300 to 1300

The Wests Medieval Civilizations

Larger Issue: Should freedom of religion be limited?

The Christian Element

The German Element

The Byzantine Empire of Constantinople

Islam

The Emergence of Europe

Larger Issue: How did Europe build on its legacies from the ancient world?

The Merovingian Kingdom: Europes Nucleus

The Franks Neighbors

The Carolingian Era

Retrenchment and Reorganization

The Culture of Europes Dark Age

Europe Turns Outward

Larger Issue: Was conflict among the medieval civilizations inevitable?

Islams Crest and Byzantiums Resurgence

The Reorganization of Feudal Europe

The Eleventh-Century Turning Point

Europes High Middle Ages

Larger Issue: Why are some societies more open to change than others?

The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century

Universities and Scholasticism

Religious Revival and Diversity of Opinion

The Artistic Vision of the High Middle Ages

Government in the High Middle Ages

Challenges, Conflicts, and Departures 1300 to 1700

Challenges to the Medieval Order

Larger Issue: What did the crises of the late medieval era reveal about the strengths and weaknesses of Europes civilization?

Challenges from Nature

Turmoil in the Middle East

Spiritual Crises

Political Responses: The Burdens of War

Renaissance and Exploration

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