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''The Story of Civilization'' by through 1933), Mr. Durant stated that he wanted to include the history of the West through the early 20th century. However, the series ends with ''The Age of Napoleon'' since the Durants died before any additional volumes could be completed. SERIES OUTLINE I. ''Our Oriental Heritage'' (1935) ( 4th Dynasty ) and Great Sphinx Of Giza (c. 2500 BC or perhaps earlier)]] This volume covers " The Orient ." In 1935, this term referred to all of history east of Greece or earlier than Homer . :“Every chapter, every paragraph in this book will offend or amuse some patriotic or esoteric soul: the orthodox Jew will need all his ancestral patience to forgive the pages on Yahveh; the metaphysical Hindu will mourn this superficial scratching of Indian philosophy; The Chinese or Japanese sage will smile indulgently at these brief and inadequate selections from the wealth of Far Eastern literature and thought. ... Meanwhile a weary author may sympathize with Tai T’ung, who in the thirteenth century issued his ‘’History of Chinese Writing’‘ with these words: ‘Were I to await perfection, my book would never be finished.’” (p.ix) #The Establishment of Civilization ##The Conditions of Civilization ##The Economic Elements of Civilization ##The Political Elements of Civilization ##The Moral Elements of Civilization ##The Mental Elements of Civilization ##The Prehistoric Beginnings of Civilization “The moulders of the world’s myths were unsuccessful husbands, for they agreed that woman was the source of all evil.” (p.70) #The Near East ## Sumeria ## Egypt ## Babylonia ## Assyria ##A Motley of Nations ## Judea ## Persia “For barbarism is always around civilization, amid it and beneath it, ready to engulf it by arms, or mass migration, or unchecked fertility. Barbarism is like the jungle; it never admits its defeat; it waits patiently for centuries to recover the territory it has lost.” (p.265) # India And Her Neighbors ##The Foundations of India ## Buddha ##From Alexander to Aurangzeb ##The Life of the People ##The Paradise of the Gods ##The Life of the Mind ##The Literature of India ##Indian Art ##A Christian Epilogue On the fall of India to the Moguls: “The bitter lesson that may be drawn from this tragedy is that eternal vigilance is the price of civilization. A nation must love peace, but keep its powder dry.” (p.463) #The Far East ##The Age of the Philosophers ##The Age of the Poets ##The Age of the Artists ##The People and the State ##Revolution and Renewal On China in 1935: “No victory of arms, or tyranny of alien finance, can long suppress a nation so rich in resources and vitality. The invader will lose funds or patience before the loins of China will lose virility; within a century China will have absorbed and civilized her conquerors, and will have learned all the technique of what transiently bears the name of modern industry; roads and communications will give her unity, economy and thrift will give her funds, and a strong government will give her order and peace.” (p.823) # Japan ##The Makers of Japan ##The Political and Moral Foundations ##The Mind and Art of Old Japan ##The New Japan On Japan in 1935: “By every historical precedent the next act will be war.” II. ''The Life of Greece'' (1939) , Altes Museum , Berlin ]] This volume covers Ancient Greece . #- 1000 BC ## Crete ##Before Agamemnon ##The Heroic Age #The Rise of - 480 BC ## Sparta ## Athens ##The Great Migration ##The Greeks in the West ##The Gods Of Greece ##The Common Culture of Early Greece ##The Struggle for Freedom "The realization of self-government was something new in the world; life without kings had not yet been dared by any great society. Out of this proud sense of independence, individual and collective, came a powerful stimulus to every enterprise of the Greeks; it was their liberty that inspired them to incredible accomplishments in arts and letters, in science and philosophy." (p.233) #The Golden Age: 480 - 399 BC ## Pericles and the Democratic Experiment ##Work and Wealth in Athens ##The Morals and Manners of the Athenians ##The Art of Periclean Greece ##The Advancement of Learning ##The Conflict of Philosophy and Religion ##The Literature of the Golden Age ##The Suicide of Greece "As surprising as anything else in this civilization is the fact that it was brilliant without the aid or stimulus of women." (p.305) #The Decline and Fall of Greek Freedom: 399 - 322 BC ## Philip ##Letters and Arts in the Fourth Century ##The Zenith of Philosophy ## Alexander "The class war had turned democracy into a contest in legislative looting." (p.554) #The - 146 BC ## Greece and Macedonia ##Hellenism and the Orient ## Egypt and the West ##Books ##The Art of the Dispersion ##The Climax of Greek Science ##The Surrender of Philosophy ##The Coming of Rome ”We have tried to show that the essential cause of the Roman conquest of Greece was the disintegration of Greek civilization from within. No great nation is ever conquered until it has destroyed itself.” (p.659) :Epilogue: Our Greek Heritage III. ''Caesar and Christ'' (1944) ]] #Introduction: Origins ##- 508 BC #The - 30 BC ##The Struggle for - 264 BC ##- 202 BC ##- 202 BC ##The Greek Conquest: 201 BC - 146 BC ”The new generation, having inherited world mastery, had no time or inclination to defend it; that readiness for war which had characterized the Roman landowner disappeared now that ownership was concentrated in a few families and a proletariat without stake in the country filled the slums of Rome.” (p.90) #The Revolution: 145 - 30 BC ##The Agrarian Revolt: 145 - 78 BC ##The - 60 BC ##- 30 BC ##- 44 BC ##- 30 BC ”Children were now luxuries which only the poor could afford.” (p.134) #The - AD 192 ##- AD 14 ##The Golden Age: 30 BC - AD 18 ##The Other Side of - 96 ##The Silver Age: AD 14 - 96 ##Rome at Work: AD 14 - 96 ##Rome and Its - AD 96 ##- AD 96 ##- AD 192 ##The - 180 ##Life and Thought in the - 192 ”If Rome had not engulfed so many men of alien blood in so brief a time, if she had passed all these newcomers through her schools instead of her slums, if she had treated them as men with a hundred potential excellences, if she had occasionally closed her gates to let assimilation catch up with infiltration, she might have gained new racial and literary vitality from the infusion, and might have remained a Roman Rome, the voice and citadel of the West.” (p.366) #The - AD 192 ## Italy ##Civilizing The West ##Roman Greece ##The Hellenistic Revival ##Rome and - AD 135 #The Youth of - AD 325 ##- AD 30 ##The - 95 ##The Growth of the - 305 ##The - 305 ##The Triumph of - 325 :Epilogue ”Rome was not destroyed by Christianity, any more than by barbarian invasion; it was an empty shell when Christianity rose to influence and invasion came.” (p.667-668) IV. ''The Age of Faith'' (1950) in Jerusalem , a city considered holy by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.]] This volume covers the Middle Ages . #The - 565 ##- 63 ##The Triumph of the - 476 ##The Progress of - 451 ##- 529 ##- 65 ##- 565 ##The - 641 #- 1258 ##- 632 ##The Koran ##The Sword of Islam: 632 - 1058 ##The Islamic Scene: 632 - 1058 ##Thought and - 1058 ##Western Islam: 641 - 1086 ##The Grandeur and Decline of Islam: 1058 - 1258 #- 1300 ##The - 500 ##The Medieval Jews: 500 - 1300 ##The Mind and Heart of the Jew: 500 - 1300 #The - 1095 ##The Byzantine World: 566 - 1095 ##The Decline of the West: 566 - 1066 ##The Rise of - 1066 ##Christianity in Conflict: 529 - 1085 ##- 1200 #The Climax of - 1300 ##The - 1291 ##The Economic Revolution: 1066 - 1300 ##The Recovery of Europe: 1095 - 1300 ##Pre-Renaissance Italy: 1057 - 1308 ##The - 1294 ##The Early - 1300 ##- 1300 ##The Morals and Manners of - 1300 ##The Resurrection of the - 1300 ##The - 1300 ##- 1300 ##The Transmission of Knowledge: 1000 - 1300 ##- 1142 ##The Adventure of - 1308 ##Christian - 1300 ##The Age of - 1300 ##- 1321 : Epilogue: The Medieval Legacy V. ''The Renaissance'' (1953) , one of the Renaissance's most distinguished Artist s]] This volume covers the Renaissance . #Prelude: 1300 - 77 ##The Age of - 75 ##- 77 "Venetian merchants invaded every market from Jerusalem to Antwerp; they traded impartially with Christians and Mohammedans, and papal excommunications fell upon them with all the force of dew upon the earth." (p.39) #The - 1534 ##The Rise of the - 1464 ##The Golden Age: 1464 - 92 ##- 1534 “But it took more than a revival of antiquity to make the Renaissance. And first of all it took money-smelly bourgeois money: ... of careful calculations, investments and loans, of interest and dividends accumulated until surplus could be spared from the pleasures of the flesh, from the purchase of senates, signories, and mistresses, to pay a Michaelangelo or a Titian to transmute wealth into beauty, and perfume a fortune with the breath of art. Money is the root of all civilization.” (p.67-68) #- 1534 ## Milan ## Leonardo Da Vinci ## Tuscany and Umbria ## Mantua ## Ferrara ## Venice and Her Realm ## Emilia and the Marche s ## The Kingdom Of Naples "He was not handsome; like most great men, he was spared this distracting handicap." (p.185) #The - 1521 ##The Crisis in the - 1521 ##The Renaissance Captures - 92 ## The Borgias ##- 13 ##- 21 #Debacle ##The Intellectual Revolt ##The Moral Release ##The Political Collapse: 1494 - 1534 #- 76 ##Sunset in Venice ##The Waning of The Renaissance #Envoi VI. ''The Reformation'' (1957) at age 46]] This volume covers the Protestant Reformation . #From - 1517 ##The - 1517 ##England, - 1400 ##France Besieged: 1300 - 1461 ##Gallia Phoenix: 1453 - 1515 ##England in the Fifteenth Century: 1399 - 1509 ##Episode in - 1515 ##- 1460 ##The - 1516 ##The - 1516 ##- 1517 ##- 1517 ##The Growth of Knowledge: 1300 - 1517 ##The Conquest of the Sea: 1492 - 1517 ##- 1517 ##- 1517 #- 64 ##- 24 ##The Social Revolution: 1522 - 36 ##- 1531 ##Luther and Erasmus: 1517 - 36 ##The Faiths at War: 1525 - 60 ##- 64 ##- 59 ##- 29 ##Henry VIII and - 35 ##Henry VIII and the - 47 ##- 58 ##From - 1561 ##The Migrations of Reform: 1517 - 60 #The Strangers in the Gate: 1300 - 1566 ##The Unification of - 1584 ##The Genius of - 1520 ##- 66 ##The Jews: 1300 - 1564 #Behind the Scenes: 1517 - 1564 ##The Life of the People ##Music: 1300 - 1564 ##Literature in the Age of Rabelais ##Art in the Age of Holbein ##Science in the Age of Copernicus ”People then, as now, were judged more by their manners than by their morals; the world forgave more readily the sins that were committed with the least vulgarity and the greatest grace. Here, as in everything but artillery and theology, Italy led the way.” (p.766) #The - 65 ##The Church and Reform ##The Popes and the Council : Epilogue: Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment VII. ''The Age of Reason Begins'' (1961) by Giusto Sustermans ]] This volume covers the Age Of Reason #- 1648 ##- 1603 ##Merrie England: 1558 - 1625 ##On the Slopes of Parnassus: 1558 - 1603 ##- 1616 ##- 87 ##- 1625 ##The Summons to - 1649 ##- 49 #The Faiths Fight For Power: 1556 - 1648 ##''Alma Mater - 1648 ##Grandeur and Decadence of - 1665 ##The Golden Age of - 1665 ##The Golden Age of - 1682 ##The Duel for France: 1559 - 74 ##- 1610 ##- 1642 ##France Beneath the Wars: 1559 - 1643 ##- 1648 ##From - 1660 ##The Rise of the - 1648 ##The Islamic Challenge: 1566 - 1648 ##Imperial Armageddon: 1564 - 1648 #The Tentatives of Reason: 1558 - 1648 ##Science in the Age of - 1648 ##Philosophy Reborn: 1564 - 1648 VIII. ''The Age of Louis XIV'' (1963) King of France , by Hyacinthe Rigaud , 1701 ]] This volume covers the period of Louis XIV Of France . #The French Zenith: 1643 - 1715 ##The Sun Rises: 1643 - 84 ##The Crucible of Faith: 1643 - 1715 ##The King and the Arts: 1643 - 1715 ##- 73 ##The Classic Zenith in French Literature: 1643 - 1715 ##Tragedy in the Netherlands: 1649 - 1715 “It was an age of strict manners and loose morals.” (p.27) ”Like the others, he came from the middle class; the aristocracy is too interested in the art of life to spare time for the life of art.” (p.144) #England: 1649 - 1714 ##- 60 ##- 74 ##- 85 ##- 1714 ##From - 1714 #The Periphery: 1648 - 1715 ##The Struggle for the - 1721 ##- 1725 ##The Changing Empire: 1648 - 1715 ##The Fallow South: 1648 - 1715 ##The Jewish Enclaves: 1564 - 1715 #The Intellectual Adventure: 1648 - 1715 ##From Superstition to Scholarship: 1648 - 1715 ##The Scientific Quest: 1648 - 1715 ##- 1727 ##English Philosophy: 1648 - 1715 ##Faith and Reason in France: 1648 - 1715 ##- 77 ##- 1716 #France Against Europe: 1683 - 1715 ##The Sun Sets IX. ''The Age of Voltaire'' (1965) , portrait after Nicholas De Largilliere ]] This volume covers the period of the Age Of Enlightenment , as exemplified by Voltaire . # #- 56 ##The People ##The Rulers ## Religion and Philosophy ## Literature and The Stage ## Art and Music #- 56 ##The People and the State ##Morals and Manners ##The Worship of Beauty ##The Play of the Mind ## Voltaire in France ”Women, when on display, dressed as in our wondering youth, when the female structure was a breathless mystery costly to behold.” (p.75) #Middle Europe: 1713 - 56 ##The Germany of Bach ## Frederick The Great and Maria Theresa ## Switzerland and Voltaire #The Advancement of Learning: 1715 - 89 ##The Scholars ##The Scientific Advance ## Medicine #The Attack Upon - 74 ## The Atheists ## Diderot and the Encyclopedie ## Diderot Proteus ##The Spreading Campaign ## Voltaire and Christianity ##The Triumph of the Philosophe s X. ''Rousseau and Revolution'' (1967) ]] This volume centers on Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his times. It received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1968 . #Prelude ##Rousseau Wanderer: 1712 - 56 ##- 63 #- 74 ##The Life of the State ##The Art of Life ##- 78 ##Rousseau Romantic: 1756 - 62 ##Rousseau Philosopher ##Rousseau Outcast: 1762 - 67 #The - 89 ##''- 59 ##- 82 ##- 88 ##''Vale, Italia:'' 1760 - 89 ##The Enlightenment in - 90 ##Music Reformed ## Mozart “Lovers under a window plucked at a guitar or mandolin and a maiden’s heart.” (p.220) #- 96 ##Islam: 1715 - 96 ##- 62 ##- 96 ##The Rape of - 95 #The - 89 ##- 86 ##- 1804 ##Roads to - 87 ##- 1805 ##- 32 ##The Jews: 1715 - 89 ##From Geneva to Stockholm “He concluded that history is an excellent teacher with few pupils.” (p.529) #- 89 ## The Industrial Revolution ##The Political Drama: 1756 - 92 ##The English People: 1756 - 89 ##The Age of - 90 ##England's Neighbors: 1756 - 89 ##The Literary Scene: 1756 - 89 ##- 84 #The Collapse of - 89 ##The Final Glory: 1774 - 83 ##Death and the Philosophers: 1774 - 1807 ##On the Eve: 1774 - 89 ##The Anatomy of Revolution: 1774 - 89 ##The Political Debacle: 1783 - 89 #Envoi XI. ''The Age of Napoleon'' (1975) in His Study'' by Jacques-Louis David (1812)]] This volume centers on Napoleon I Of France and his times. #The - 99 ##The Background of Revolution: 1774 - 89 ##-September 30, 1791 ##-September 20, 1792 ##-October 26, 1795 ##-November 9, 1799 ##Life Under the Revolution: 1789 - 99 #Napoleon Ascendant: 1799 - 1811 ##-May 18, 1804 ##The New Empire: 1804 - 07 ##The Mortal Realm: 1807 - 11 ## Napoleon Himself ##Napoleonic France: 1800 - 1815 ##Napoleon and the Arts ##Literature versus Napoleon ##Science and Philosophy under Napoleon #- 1812 ##England at Work ##English Life ##The Arts in England ##Science in England ##English Philosophy ##Literature in Transition ##- 1850 ##The Rebel Poets: 1788 - 1824 ##England's Neighbors: 1789 - 1815 ##- 1812 #The Challenged Kings: 1789 - 1812 ## Iberia ##- 1813 ##- 1812 ##- 1827 ##- 1811 ##The German People: 1789 - 1812 ##German Literature: 1789 - 1815 ##German Philosophy: 1789 - 1815 ##Around the - 1812 ##- 1812 #Finale: 1811 - 1815 ##To - 12 ##To - 14 ##To - 15 ##To St. Helena ##To the End ##Afterward: 1815 - 40 CRITICISM ''The Story of Civilization'' has been criticized by some for simplifications, rash judgments colored by personal convictions, and story-telling, and described as a careless dabbling in historical scholarship. Professor J. H. Plumb's opinion on the series was that “historical truth… can rarely be achieved outside the professional world historians .” J. H. Plumb, New York Review of Books; quoted in Arnold Beichman, “Is History Only for the Historians?” The Christian Science Monitor, 28 October 1965.. The counter to such criticism is that Durant’s purpose in writing the series was not to create a definitive scholarly production but to make a large amount of information accessible and comprehensible to the educated public in the form of a comprehensive "composite history." Given the massive undertaking in creating these 11 volumes over 50 years, errors and incompleteness have occurred; yet for an attempt as large in breadth of time and scope as this, there are no similar works to compare. As Mr. Durant says in his first work, ''Our Oriental Heritage'', "I wish to tell as much as I can, in as little space as I can, of the contributions that genius and labor have made to the cultural heritage of mankind - to chronicle and contemplate, in their causes, character and effects, the advances of invention, the varieties of economic organization, the experiments in government, the aspirations of religion, the mutations of morals and manners, the masterpieces of literature, the development of science, the wisdom of philosophy, and the achievements of art. I do not need to be told how absurd this enterprise is, nor how immodest is its very conception" . . . "Nevertheless I have dreamed that despite the many errors inevitable in this undertaking, it may be of some use to those upon whom the passion for philosophy has laid the compulsion to try to see things whole, to pursue perspective, unity and time, as well as to seek them through science in space." "Like philosophy, such a venture the creation of these 11 volumes has no rational excuse, and is at best but a brave stupidity; but let us hope that, like philosophy, it will always lure some rash spirits into its fatal depths." SEE ALSO
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