The Western Experience, Volume A, with Powerweb

by Chambers, Mortimer; Hanawalt, Barbara; Rabb, Theodore K.; Woloch, Isser; Grew, Raymond

• ISBN13: 9780072565478
• ISBN10: 0072565470
• Edition: 8th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-07-26
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

In an age when so many people only look forward, THE WESTERN EXPERIENCE combines new and traditional approaches to the past that, combined with an interpretive approach, challenge, stimulate, and engage students. The approach of the authors is appealing to those who want students to come away from their course with more than a grasp of the “facts”, but instead wish students to analyze assumptions and use critical thinking skills. To further this goal, the authors not only see their book as a collection of interpretive essays that can serve as an example of historical writing, but they show and exemplify how historians struggle and deal with the past, for instance by discussing various controversies in history such as the Black Athena question.

In addition, while the text presents a chronological survey of the history of Western Civilization, the narrative weaves several recurring themes that are strengthened and highlighted in new ways in this edition. The themes of social structure, the body politic, organization of production and the impact of technology, evolution of the family and changing gender roles, war, religion and cultural expression are laid out at the beginning of each chapter in the form of a color coded grid that the student and instructor will find easy to follow through the narrative.

Table of Contents

List of Maps XXIV

List of Boxes XXVII

Books Related Interest XXX

Preface XXXI

Introduction XXXVII

Chapter 1 The First Civilizations

I. The Earliest Humans

Human Beings as Food Gatherers/Human Beings as Food Producers/Early Near Eastern Villages

II.The First Civilizations in Mesopotamia

The Emergence of Civilization/Sumer/The Babylonian Kingdom/Mesopotamian Culture

III.Egypt

The Old and Middle Kingdoms/The New Kingdom/A View of Egyptian Society

IV. Palestine

Canaanites and Phoenicians/Hebrew Society and the Bible/The Jewish Legacy

V.*The Early Indo-Europeans

The Hittite Kingdom/The Close of the Bronze Age

VI. The Near Eastern States

The Assyrian State/The Chaldeans and the Medes/The Persian Empire

Chapter 2 The Forming of Greek Civilizations

I.Crete and Early Greece (ca. 3000-1100 B.C.)

Cretan Civilization/Crete and the Greeks/Mycenaean Civilization (ca. 1600-1100 B.C.)

II.The Greek Renaissance (ca. 800-600 B.C.)

Greek Religion/Public Games/Colonization (ca. 750-550 B.C.)/The Alphabet/Archaic Literature

III.The Polis

Organization and Government/The Economy of the Poleis (ca. 700-400 B.C.)/Sparta and Athens (ca. 700-500 B.C.)

IV.The Challenge of Persia

The Invasion under Darius and Marathon (490 B.C.)/The Second Persian War (480-479 B.C.)

V.The Wars of the Fifth Century (479-404 B.C.)

The Athenian Empire/The Age of Pericles/The Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.)

Chapter 3 Classical and Hellenistic Greece

I. Classical Greek Culture (ca. 500-323 B.C.)

Philosophy/Greek Tragedy/Comedy: Aristophanes/Historical Writing/The Family in Classical Greece

II. The Rise of Macedonia

Philip II of Macedonia/Alexander the Great

III. The Hellenistic Age (323-30 B.C.)

The Dissolution of Alexanders Empire/The Economic Life/Literature, Art, and Science/Philosophy and Religion

Chapter 4 The Roman Republic

I. The Unification of Italy (to 264 B.C.)

The Geography of Italy/Early Rome/The Struggle of the Orders (494-287 B.C.)/Roman Society in the Republic/Early Expansion of Rome

II. The Age of Mediterranean Conquest (264-133 B.C.)

The Punic Wars/Expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean/The Nature of Roman Expansion

III. The Roman Revolution (133-27 B.C.)

Social Change and the Gracchi/The Years if the Warlords/The First Triumvirate/The Supremacy of Julius Caesar

IV. The End of the Roman Republic

The Second Triumvirate/Octavian Triumphant

V. The Founding of the Roman Empire

Augustus and the Principate/Augustus, the First Roman Emperor

Chapter 5 The Empire and Christianity

I. The Empire at Its Height

The Successors of Augustus/The Five Good Emperors/Roman Imperial Civilization

II. The Period of Crises

The Crisis of Leadership/Weaknesses in the Institution of Slavery/The Plight of the Poor

III. The Late Roman Empire

Restoration under Diocletian/Constantine and the Bureaucracy/The Decline of the Western Empire

IV. Christianity and Its Early Rivals

The Mystery Religions/The Jews in the Roman Empire/Origins of Christianity/Battles within Christianity/The Fathers of the Church

Chapter 6 The Making of Western Europe

I. The New Community of Peoples

The Great Migrations/Germanic Society/Germans and Romans

II. The New Political Structures

The Early Byzantine Empire/Justinian the Great (r. 527-650)/The Frankish Kingdom/Kingship in Italy and Spain/Anglo-Saxon England

III. The New Economy, 500-900

Agricultureal Innovations/Trade and Manufacture

IV. The Expansion of the Church

Origins of the Papacy/Monasticism/Missionaries and Popular Religion/The Church and Classical Learning

Chapter 7 The Empires of the Early Middle Ages (800-1000): Creation and Erosion

I. The Byzantine Empire (623-1071)

Strains on the Empire/Byzantine Government/The Two Churches/Byzantine Economy and Society/Byzantine Culture/Decline of the Byzantine Empire

II. Islam

The Arabs/Muhammad/The Religion of Islam/Expansion of Islam/Islamic Economy and Society/Islamic Culture/Decline of Medieval Islamic Civilization

III. The Carolingian, or Frankish, Empire

Charlemagne/Carolingian Government/The Carolingian Renaissance/Carolingian Society and Culture/Decline of the Carolingian Empire

IV. The Vikings, Kiev, and England

The Vikings/The Kievan Rus Principality/Anglo-Saxon England

Chapter 8 Restoration of an Ordered Society

I. Economic and Social Changes

Feudalism/Life of the Nobility/Manorialism/Peasant Life/Expansion of Europe/Commercial Expansion/Rebirth of Urban Life

II. Governments of Europe 1000-1150

Norman England/Capetian France/The German Empire

III. The Reform of the Western Church

The Church in Crisis/Monastic Reform/Papal Reform/Investiture Controversy/Consolidation on Papal Reform

IV. The Crusades

Origins/The Motives of the Crusaders/The First Crusade/The Kingdom of Jerusalem/The Later Crusades/Military-Religious Orders/Results of the Crusades

Chapter 9 The Flowering of Medieval Civilization

I. Cultural Developments

The Rise of Universities/Scholasticism/Spiritual Approaches to Knowledge/Romanesque Architecture/The Gothic Style/Court Culture

II. The States of Europe

England/France/The Iberian Kingdoms/Germany: The Holy Empire

III. The Church

The Growth of Heresy/The Suppression of Heresy/The Franciscans/Papal Government

Chapter 10 The Urban Economy and the Consolidation of States

I. Cities, Trade, and Commerce

Urban Government/The Organization of Crafts/The Guilds/Commercial Institutions/Sea Traffic/Urban Life

II. Monarchies and the Development of Representative Institutions

England and the Development of Parliament/France and the Consolidation of Rule/The Holy Empire and the Fragmentation of Rule

III.Government in the East

The Byzantine Empire/The Mongols/Muscovite Russia

IV. The Papacy and the Church

The Papacy/Lay Religious Observance

V. Learning and Literature

Philosophy/Dante

Chapter 11 Breakdown and Renewal in an Age of Plague

I. Population Catastrophes

Demographic Decline/Plague

II. Economic Depression and Recovery

Agricultural Specialization/Protectionism/Technological Advances/The Standard of Living

III. Popular Unrest

Rural Revolts/Urban Revolts/The Seeds of Discontent

IV. Challenges of the Governments of Europe

Roots of Political Unrest/The Nobility and Factional Strife/England, France, and the Hundred Years War/The Tides of the Battle/The Effectors of the Hundred Years War/The States of Italy

VI. The Fall of Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire

The Fall of Constantinople

Chapter 12 Tradition and Change in European Culture, 1300-1500

I. The New Learning

The Founding of Humanism/Humanism in the Fifteenth Century/The Florentine Neoplatonists/The Heritage of the New Learning

II. Art and the Artists in the Italian Renaissance

Three Friends/The High Renaissance/Status and Perception

III. The Culture of the North

Chivalry and Decay/Contemporary Views of Northern Society/Art and Music

IV. Scholastic Philosophy, Religious Thought, and Piety

The Modern Way/Social and Scientific Thought

V. The State of Christendom

Styles of Piety/Movements of Doctrinal Reform