Table of Contents

Preface

Figures and maps

Notes on references, further reading, and dates

Chapter 1: Foundations: The Ancient Near East

1.1 Prehistory and the origins of civilization
1.2 Egypt and Mesopotamia: government and culture
1.3 Polytheism and monotheism
1.4 Problems of government
1.5 The Near East and the Greeks    

Chapter 2:  The Greeks: Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic

2.1 Fundamentals: an agonistic culture
2.2 The early polis
2.3 Polis or Hellas?
2.4 Changes in the polis: Archaic and Classical
2.5 Athens: Archaic and Classical
2.6 Sparta: Archaic and Classical
2.7 Philosophers and sophists
2.8 Plato's Republic
2.9 The end of Classical Greece, and the Hellenistic world    

Chapter 3: Rome: From Republic to Empire

3.1 Foundations: Rome's early history, pietas, and the mos maiorum
3.2 The Republic: structure and function
3.3 Consequences of Empire I: constituencies for change
3.4 Consequences of Empire II: the emergence of Graeco-Roman civilization
3.5 Consequences of Empire III: the Republic unravels
3.6 Principate and empire
3.7 Rome and its empire    

Chapter 4: Rome's Fall? Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages 

4.1 The problem of the fall of Rome 
4.2 The crisis of the third century and its resolution
4.3 Christians and Romans
4.4 Barbarians and Romans
4.5 The Franks
4.6 Islam and the West
4.7 The Carolingian empire
4.8 The collapse of the Carolingian empire and its aftermath
4.9 A Feudal Society? The West ca. 850-1050

Chapter 5: The High and Late Middle Ages

5.1 Christendom, economic growth, and a society of orders, estates, and corporations 
5.2 Christendom: expansion and reform
5.3 The rise of government
5.4 Church versus Crown in the High Middle Ages
5.5 Limiting government
5.6 Reason, nature, and the self
5.7 The Late Middle Ages: demographic shock and its impact
5.8 A Renaissance?

Chapter 6: The Early Modern West I

6.1 Fundamentals: Protestant doctrine and the Middle Ages
6.2 A Catholic Reformation?
6.3 The sexes and the family
6.4 Fragmentation and further reform
6.5 Complications: political and social
6.6 Political results: the consolidation of royal authority
6.7 A crisis of authority and the end of Christendom

Chapter 7: The Early Modern West II: Science, Society, and the State

7.1 Fundamentals I: a society of orders, estates, and corporations
7.2 Fundamentals II: the universe ca. 1600
7.3 Absolutism I: motives, means, and implications
7.4 Absolutism II: successes and failures 
7.5 The Scientific Revolution I: nature
7.6 Empiricism
7.7 The Scientific Revolution II: society
7.8 The Enlightenment
7.9 Labor

Chapter 8: Conclusion: The Shaping of Western Civilization

Epilogue

Promotional Information

This is an effective and innovative approach to the writing of history that combines current scholarship with a fresh anecdotal gloss that will appeal to undergraduates. Burger manages the impressive feat of elucidating the mentalities of all manner of people in the distant past in language that speaks to the present. His accounts of medieval Christian outlooks and institutions are concise, lively, and compelling. He makes quick sense out of complex historical events that are often difficult to teach, while losing none of the nuances. -- Elspeth Carruthers, University of Illinois-Chicago This is my new favourite textbook. It is a truly remarkable achievement: a survey of Western history that is simultaneously brief, accessible, lucid, and consistently interesting. Burger shines light on the craft of history itself. -- Shannon McSheffrey, Concordia University I believe that Burger's text received the most enthusiastic response to an introductory textbook from my students that I have ever seen; they appreciated its low cost, its brevity, but above all the clarity of the author's argument. More than that, though, they read the text and assimilated what they learned. I am quite pleased. -- Hans Peter Broedel, University of North Dakota

About the Author

Michael Burger is a professor of history at Auburn University at Montgomery.

Reviews

"This is my new favourite textbook. It is a truly remarkable achievement: a survey of Western history that is simultaneously brief, accessible, lucid, and consistently interesting. Burger shines light on the craft of history itself." - Shannon McSheffrey, Concordia University