Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture (Seventeenth Edition)

by Judith G. Coffin, Robert C. Stacey, Carol Symes

New to the Western Civilizations team, master teachers and scholars Joshua Cole (University of Michigan) and Carol Symes (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) have integrated innovative pedagogical tools into the text to help students and instructors achieve their course objectives, while incorporating the latest scholarship into this highly readable, balanced, and beautifully written book.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Textbooks, World History, Reference, Historical, European History

491 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Judith G. Coffin. Associate Professor. Department of History. University of Texas, Austin. Austin, Texas, USA

Research interests:European social and cultural history, especially 20th-century France; gender, sexuality and history of feminism, history of radio; private and public;; the "sexual revolution" in post-war France .

Reviews

[Chantel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Western Civilizations, Single Volume Edition, Fourteenth Edition
Author: Judith G. Coffin, Robert C. Stacey, Robert E. Lerner, Standish Meacham

I had this book for a college class but only read what I had to for taking the tests. Now that I have graduated, I picked up this book for fun & further knowledge. This book is such a good read...it is heavy so I couldn't cradle it like a paperback or regular hardcover book...that made reading it take a lot longer...I had to sit at a table or in the recliner with it sitting on a pillow and my favorite place to read is in bed. It didn't really fit on the nightstand. LOL.

[Noreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have not finished: Review Seventh edition Vol 1 Covid reread from required History class 1970.

Burns /Goldilocks analog approach to history fills in threads (art, science, medicine, geography, technology, spiritual, political, economic, language, ...). Not too brief( lists of dates, battles) not too long, just right amount of information on all topics of human development from cave man on.

Filling in gaps between Neolithic to Egyptian, Minoan/Mycean, Sumerian, Hittite, Babylonian, Hebrew, Assyrian, Chaldean, Phoenicians, Lydians... legacy of each people/tribe. Some tribes disappeared, were absorbed with no known contributions to human body of knowledge.

Wouldn’t be surprised at the role of various nomadic (land and sea) barbarians in transmission of ideas and materials , as well as diseases. (Vikings Mongols Phoenicians).

Chapter 5 Hebrew Civilization: Complete evolution from 1800 BC-ish Tribal, geographic, philosophical, leaders, ideas from other tribes....5 doctrinal stages... puts names in historical context. Started as a group who were animists, nature worshipers!!!! The oldest surviving human culture. Why? Started as a nature worshiping tribe like many others.

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good riddance.

[Skallagrimsen]

From Goodwill to Goodreads

Just discovered a copy of this, my 101 history text at St John's University, at Goodwill for $4. I couldn't resist. I remember once finding this book intimidating. Now it seems rather elementary. I like that. It indicates a level of growth.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish this went in chronological order not back and forth.

[Shubham Prasad]

excellent overview

[Arturo Herrero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breve historia de Occidente es cualquier cosa menos breve. Buen libro para recorrer la historia prácticamente desde los orígenes de la civilización.

[FARSHAD · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was the most terrific textbook I had read. It is such a laudable achievement as it traces the history of Western Civilizations from its prehistoric roots up to late 1980s. Its prose is fascinating, solid, informative and really well-written. Its many pages are adorned with continual relevant images that make reading the book even more enjoyable. The killer aspect of the book is that each paragraph of the book comes with the subject matter covered in a couple of words in the margins. This makes reading the book and finding the relevant information a breeze. Furthermore, each chapter ends with a bibliography. The book has a meticulously arranged index too.

It was my first reading of a sweeping, general history. I found the experience utterly compelling and fascinating even though it took me a year to read through. The book covered not only the political history but also the changes in religious, scientific and lifestyle domains. It is selective yet deep, not too long to be boring and not too short to be shallow. Its arrangement is really neat and very easy to follow. It is written in a way that you can start from almost every chapter and you are not forced to read it cover to cover. It is a fascinating book where you can dip in at will in different epochs. I loved it. Highly recommended***

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This did a pretty good job of summarizing and explaining western civilizations, (though my professor pointed out dryly that it went far too fast in certain chapters and often skipped centuries of knowledge) and it had interesting pictures and relevant fact tables/charts. The chapters felt long, but that's probably because I wasn't enamoured with this subject. I did enjoy the class though because my teacher had the wickedest sense of humor and would say hilarious things in class that most people missed because they were dozing off.

*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2011...

[Genevieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent textbook which includes Western Civ from Babylonia through the 21st century. The writing is crisp and easy to follow, but very engaging. It also includes a great number of color images, maps, primary sources . . .

And I've taken classes from two of the authors.

[David Azevedo · Rating 5 out of 5]

É simplesmente maravilhoso, esclarecedor iluminador da raça esclarecendo o início da raça humana e como o universo se iniciou até a data de impressão desses maravilhosos livros que são Bloco e bloco II.

[Dick Wells]

I wrote the annotated bibliography for the 1979-1980 edition of this work while studying under Standish Meacham at the University of Texas.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy textbook to read and covers a Western Civilization course well. Highly recommended for Western Civilization teachers our there.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been wanting to completely read this book for a very long time. I finally did. It is one of the best Western histories I ever read. If you can find it, read it.

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the best history book I have ever had the pleasure to read. Thorough analysis and quite engaging. The way history should be interpreted and communicated.