Rating: 
Summary: Too complicated.
Review: I am a freshman in high school, and this is my textbook in my AP European History class. The events depicted are often out of order, making it harder to understand the timeline. The writing seems inconsistent, sometimes short and understandable but often is long-winded and unclear. The authors of this book assume you have some knowledge of both of the geography in Europe and at least some knowledge of Europe's history already. In most of my fellow students' case, they assume wrong. If you do not already have some experience in studying Europe, then I would recommend searching for a different book.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Overview of European History
Review: I am a junior in an AP European History class. My class uses two textbooks, one of which is Kagan's Western Heritage. The Kagan textbook is by far my favorite of the two textbooks to read. It is very interesting and thoroughly covers all the topics of European history, many of which are skipped in my other textbook. I am even considering buying the book so I can read the chapters my class skipped and keep it on hand as a reference. The order of the chapters is not at all difficult to follow as long as the reader has a basic knowledge of European History or looks at the timelines at the beginning of each section. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Europe.
Rating: 
Summary: Book falls short of expected standards
Review: I am a senior enrolled in the AP European history class at my school. This year the class switched to a new textbook, which happened to be The Western Heritage. We were all excited that the new textbook had large, colorful pictures and not just pages of lengthy text. As the year progressed, my classmates and I noticed how poor the book was. Many of the key concepts were explained in a way that was complicated and unenlightening. The book greatly confused many students on significant practices of the Catholic faith during the Middle Ages. The chapters are quite inconsistent. Some chapters are written fairly well, while others are cluttered and downright terrible. Each chapter is quite lengthy and is often hard to read or sleep-inducing. The organization of ideas is poorly done. Chronological events are separated by material that is either unrelated to any previous events, or do not occur until decades later. Recently, I read the chapter on the rise of facist empires in Italy and Germany. Some major terminology that we all know was mysteriously missing -- I could not find the word "Autobahn" anywhere in the endless sea of words, but maybe the editor just could not squeeze it anywhere on the page. Alas...
So, in conclusion, I suggest you steer clear of this textbook unless you are stimulated by lots of colorful pictures and enjoy reading books intended to confuse the reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the greatest but okay.
Review: I am a sophmore in highschool. This is my textbook for my AP European History class. It is a very hard book to analyze do to misplacement of chapters. For example, the Scientific Revolution is in chapter 14. The Enlightenment, (which should have come next), isn't for another 5-10 chapters. Also, they aren't clear about who did what. All in all though, it does give the information across fairly clearly.
Rating:
Summary: A Poor Representation Of History
Review: I found The Western Heritage a very disappointing book on western history. The book only pays scant attention of the rises of civilizations up to the birth of Christianity, where it then on focuses mainly on its affect in Europe to 1527. Ignoring a rich and turbulent cultural history. I felt a distinct bias in the book; events such as the crusades are not written to be bloody spiritual cleansing they were and any sociologist would smack their forehead with the blatant use of labels in reference to "pagans". A history book should be written from a historical stand point and focus on ALL aspects of culture and society, paying each period in history its due. Early civilizations such as Mesopotamia where given only scant attention considering the innovation of their time. The book is written with such an ethnocentric eye it's appalling.
Rating: 
Summary: Confession of a history flunkie
Review: I have always hated history with a burning passion, including especially my AP Euro class. However, this book has won me over. It has lots of pictures, maps, and primary sources, and is easy to read despite being absolutely crammed with information. I am definitely not selling this one back at the end of the term.
Rating:
Summary: Great for AP Euro!
Review: I took AP Euro as a junior last year and actually really enjoyed this text. It was a lot better than the other book that had been used the previous year which was comprised almost completely of political history. The pictures are nice when you have a big chapter to read and the writing is simple to comprehend. The pitfalls of the book lie in the chapter on the French Revolution and it is obvioius that toward the end the deadline was coming up because numerous spelling errors and other typos were found throughout the final chapters. The formation of the E. U. and its development were almost not at all covered, but much of the material is excellent. In preparation for the AP test my class did not do very much in terms of information, but spent most of its time doing DBQ's and essays. I read the entire book cover to cover and did not even have to study for the AP test and recieved a five, so I highly reccomend this book but look somewhere else for the French Revolution or if you really want things structured in a strictly chronological formation.
Rating:
Summary: Great for AP Euro!
Review: This is the finest single source textbook on the history of western civilization available today. I first encountered Kagan, Ozment and Turner's "The Western Heritage" in its second edition. I have reread it cover to cover many times since. History is not boring, but historians tend to be. These men are not! This volume overcomes the few shortcomings of the second edition. Chief amongst them the lack of a time-line, correlation to principle advances in contemporary non-western history, and contributions of Jewish thinkers of the modern era. Its coverage is balanced. The authors are recognized, broadly published historians who treat history as a cultural dynamic. For example, prior to reading their book, I did not understand the rise of feudalism out of the ruins of the Roman Empire. Still sensitive topics such as the rise Catholicism and the reformation are covered with an academic honesty that has become rare in today's "politically correct" educational environment where George Washington Carver gets a chapter because he was a freed slave and George Washington gets a paragraph because he owned slaves. Every chapter has excerpts the source documents of the principle thinkers and/or doers of the time covered. The end of the chapter offers a pedagogy for further study. This resource alone makes it the book worth the purchase price. I will use this book as a basis for a home-schooling curriculum for my granddaughter. I recommend that anyone interested in this approach also avail themselves of the Prentice Hall WEB site, vig.prenhall.com.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Breed
Review: This is the finest single source textbook on the history of western civilization available today. I first encountered Kagan, Ozment and Turner's "The Western Heritage" in its second edition. I have reread it cover to cover many times since. History is not boring, but historians tend to be. These men are not! This volume overcomes the few shortcomings of the second edition. Chief amongst them the lack of a time-line, correlation to principle advances in contemporary non-western history, and contributions of Jewish thinkers of the modern era. Its coverage is balanced. The authors are recognized, broadly published historians who treat history as a cultural dynamic. For example, prior to reading their book, I did not understand the rise of feudalism out of the ruins of the Roman Empire. Still sensitive topics such as the rise Catholicism and the reformation are covered with an academic honesty that has become rare in today's "politically correct" educational environment where George Washington Carver gets a chapter because he was a freed slave and George Washington gets a paragraph because he owned slaves. Every chapter has excerpts the source documents of the principle thinkers and/or doers of the time covered. The end of the chapter offers a pedagogy for further study. This resource alone makes it the book worth the purchase price. I will use this book as a basis for a home-schooling curriculum for my granddaughter. I recommend that anyone interested in this approach also avail themselves of the Prentice Hall WEB site, vig.prenhall.com.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent survey of the central themes of the West
Review: This text discusses the basic developments in Western civilization with a richness and variety that does justice to certain themes considered critical in our heritage. The development of political freedom, concern for the rule of law, the interaction between religion, society and the state, the evolution of science and technology, are among the fundamental themes in Western civilization. The Foundation of Western Civilization in the Ancient World is well covered. How civilization evolved from simple societies is treated in an excellent fashion from the experience and culture of the Greeks, while Greek civilization is shown to be richly nouriched by older civilizations such as the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations.
| 
