Western Civilizations, Volume 1, Fourteenth Edition

Rating:
Summary: Good historical reference material
Review: There is good reason for this book being in it's fourteenth edition; it is comprehensive, balanced ,concise not overly laborious reading and a flat out good history book. I have a previous edition that I used to supplement teaching my students with and continue to use when helping my high school age son. The contributors are brainiacs, we're talking experts in their fields too. A couple of case in points, Lerner received his PH. D. from Princeton and is a professor who has authored several books. Meacham did his undergraduate work at Yale before doing his graduate work at Cambridge and Harvard. The book takes blocks of time like the Age of Absolutism, Intellectual Revolutions of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, The French Revolution and all the major developments of Western Civilization .There is just enough information to go in depth but not feel like you are overburdened with data. The modern world is also explored and contemporary Western Civilizations. There are aslo many colorful maps, pictures and illustrations to supplement the writing to enhance thelearning experience. A very helpful feature is subject titles along the sides of the paragraphs that correspond to the detailed information. This is helpful when you are seeking specific information on a subject and do not want to read pages and pages of information to find your facts. I would highly recommend this book to any student of history or teacher of advanced middle school or high school courses on world history.

Rating:
Summary: Good historical reference material
Review: There is good reason for this book being in it's fourteenth edition; it is comprehensive, balanced ,concise not overly laborious reading and a flat out good history book. I have a previous edition that I used to supplement teaching my students with and continue to use when helping my high school age son. The contributors are brainiacs, we're talking experts in their fields too. A couple of case in points, Lerner received his PH. D. from Princeton and is a professor who has authored several books. Meacham did his undergraduate work at Yale before doing his graduate work at Cambridge and Harvard. The book takes blocks of time like the Age of Absolutism, Intellectual Revolutions of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, The French Revolution and all the major developments of Western Civilization .There is just enough information to go in depth but not feel like you are overburdened with data. The modern world is also explored and contemporary Western Civilizations. There are aslo many colorful maps, pictures and illustrations to supplement the writing to enhance thelearning experience. A very helpful feature is subject titles along the sides of the paragraphs that correspond to the detailed information. This is helpful when you are seeking specific information on a subject and do not want to read pages and pages of information to find your facts. I would highly recommend this book to any student of history or teacher of advanced middle school or high school courses on world history.