Product Description
The first of two volumes, Aspects of Western Civilization: Problems and Sources in History presents an exciting chronicle of human events and ideas from the civilization of the Ancient Near East to the Era of Reformation. This provocative compilation of primary sources features excerpts from the greatest historians, biographers, statesmen, religious spokesmen, philosophers, and dramatists in Western Civilization. It also offers an unusual and interesting variety of other evidence: extensive passages from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, archaeologists Howard Carter's account of the discovery of King Tut's tomb, inscriptions from ancient Greece, wall graffiti from Pompeii, the Res Gestae of Augustus, correspondence concerning the Investiture Contest, personal accounts of the tragedy of Abelard and Heloise, letters home from crusading knights, warnings of plague victims, and ideas from the notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci.
All chapters are problem-oriented and designed to involve the student in important historical questions with enduring relevance. The text employs a variety of political, social, economic, religious, and intellectual issues, internally organized around six major themes: Imperialism, Church/State Relationships, Systems of Government, Revolution, Propaganda, and Historical Change and Transition.
