A History of Civilizations

by Fernand Braudel, Richard Mayne (Translator)

"Refreshingly broad-brush in its approach...this history provides the big picture."—The Christian Science Monitor. Written from a consciously anti-enthnocentric approach, this fascinating work is a survey of the civilizations of the modern world in terms of the broad sweep and continuities of history, rather than the "event-based" technique of most other texts.

Contents

List of maps
Translator´s introduction
By way of preface
Introduction: History and the present day

I. A HISTORY OF CIVILIZATIONS
1. Changing vocabulary
2. The study of civilization involves all social sciences
3. The continuity of civilizations

II. CIVILIZATIONS OUTSIDE EUROPE
Part I. Islam and the Muslim World
4. History
5. Geography
6. The greatness and decline of Islam
7. The revival of Islam today

Part II: Africa
8. The past
9. Black Africa: Today and tomorrow

Part III: The Far East
10. An introduction to the Far East
11. The China of the past
12. China yesterday and today
13. India yesterday and today
14. The maritime Far East
15. Japan

III. EUROPEAN CIVILIZATIONS
Part I: Europe
16. Geography and freedom
17. Christianity, humanism and scientific thought
18. The industrialization of Europe
19. Unity in Europe

Part II: America
20. Latin America, the other New World
21. America par excellence: the United States
22. Failures and difficulties: From yesterday to the present
23. An English-speaking Universe

Part III: The other Europe: Muscovy, Russia, the USSR and the CIS
24. From the beginning to the October Revolution of 1917
25. The USSR after 1917

Index

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World History, Politics, Sociology, Philosophy, Anthropology

640 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Fernand Braudel was a French historian and a leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects: The Mediterranean (1923–49, then 1949–66), Civilization and Capitalism (1955–79), and the unfinished Identity of France (1970–85). His reputation stems in part from his writings, but even more from his success in making the Annales School the most important engine of historical research in France and much of the world after 1950. As the dominant leader of the Annales School of historiography in the 1950s and 1960s, he exerted enormous influence on historical writing in France and other countries.

Braudel has been considered one of the greatest of the modern historians who have emphasized the role of large-scale socioeconomic factors in the making and writing of history. He can also be considered as one of the precursors of world-systems theory.