The West in the World, Complete [with Making the Grade]

by Dennis Sherman, Joyce Salisbury

A social history within a political and cultural framework, The West in the World looks at the development of western civilization within the context of the rest of the world. Rather than treating the evolution of western civilization as an isolated event, Sherman and Salisbury examine how the west evolved in time with--and often, as a response to--the events that shaped civilizations around the globe. In addition to setting the history of western civilization in context, this groundbreaking new text distinguishes itself from standard survey texts by being the first to fully integrate visual history with traditional narrative style. Readers glimpse the true craft of the historian through integrated discussions of the visual program in the book; throughout the text, the authors address how the paintings, sculpture, and other art of the times serve as primary sources in informing the reader about that period in history. In addition to drawing the art program into the text, The West in the World includes visual learning tools such as Thinking about Geography maps with guiding questions, and timelines at the beginning and end of each chapter. The West in the World also offers complete coverage of western civilization in a "midsize" book--this unique length provides more detailed and comprehensive coverage than brief books, but is not as exhaustive and unmanageable as larger survey texts.

Genres: History

1024 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.