The West in the World: A History of Western Civilization

by Dennis Sherman, Joyce Salisbury

The West in the World relates the story of how the west has transformed – and been transformed by - the rest of the world. The authors examine the West’s contributions to the world and how the west has changed and embraced new ideas through contact with the people outside its center. Using a political / cultural framework the text weaves a strong thread of social history into the narrative by showing how civilizations grow and are shaped through the decisions and actions of real people. The authors bring history to life by using art and maps as a central feature of learning. They build discussions of art into the narrative to help students interpret artwork, and provide analytical map guides that reveal the connections between geography, politics, and other developments. This strong, rich narrative is short enough to allow instructors the flexibility of introducing other sources and books as supplement, while giving students a solid understanding of Western Civilization without overwhelming them.

Genres: History

912 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Ed Callahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

By and large, I think that Sherman and Salisbury do a nice job of summarizing the history of Western Civilization and presenting it against the backdrop of wider world history. Writing about Western Civilization presents its own challenges, since it necessitates a Eurocentric point of view. It's easy, and tempting, for the writer to ignore events and developments in other continents, or even in other parts of the Afro-Eurasian world in which Western Civilization developed. Eurocentricity dominates this text, as it must.

Overall, I value the authors' careful and balanced approach to the material, and find that it is a very helpful introduction for basic university level courses on Western Civilization.