Join the more than 1 million students who have used Spielvogel's texts to succeed in their Western civilization course. There's a reason why WESTERN CIVILIZATION is a bestseller: It makes history come alive. Updated with the most current scholarship, the 11th Edition is packed with primary source features that highlight real voices from the past, a variety of end-of-chapter study tools to help you prepare for exams, colorful maps, vivid photographs and visuals and dramatic firsthand historical accounts -- bringing to life the stories of the people and events that have shaped Western civilization. In addition, MindTap equips you with anywhere, anytime digital learning tools.
Best history course I've done. Very unbiased and pulls in helpful primary sources for all types of readers. It makes history into a narrative that calls the student to action.
Although this textbook gives a good overview of important periods in History (from the 1700s up until present day), it certainly makes no effort to be engaging to readers. It's like reading a dry, outdated scholarly essay with very little to break up the monotony. And my History professor made us read the entire thing, cover to cover. Ugh. At least it can count toward my Goodreads list of Books Read in 2014!
I used this during my years in college and it definitely was helpful. It provides a healthy overview of western civilization history after 1500. Of course this book does not go in depth, but that's because it is a textbook, mainly used for freshman college students. It's a great reference and starting off point.