Chapters

1. History’s Story
2. Wanderers and Settlers: The Ancient Middle East to 400 B.C.
3. The Chosen People: Hebrews and Jews, 2000 B.C. to A.D. 135
4. Trial of the Hellenes: The Ancient Greeks, 1200 B.C. to A.D. 146
5. Imperium Romanum: The Romans, 753 B.C. to A.D. 300
6. The Revolutionary Rabbi: Christianity, the Roman Empire, and Islam, 4 B.C. to A.D. 1453
7. From Old Rome to the New West: The Early Middle Ages, A.D. 500 to 1000
8. The Medieval Mêlée: The High and Later Middle Ages, 1000 to 1500
9. Making the Modern World: The Renaissance and Reformation, 1400 to 1648
10. Liberation of Mind and Body: Early Modern Europe, 1543 to 1815
11. Mastery of the Machine: The Industrial Revolution, 1764 to 1914
12. The Westerner’s Burden: Imperialism and Nationalism, 1810 to 1918
13. Rejections of Democracy: The InterWar Years and World War II, 1917 to 1945
14. A World Divided: The Early Cold War, 1945 to 1980
15. Into the Future: The Contemporary Era, 1980 to the Present

• Epilogue: Why Western Civilization?

Chapter 2

Wanderers and Settlers: The Ancient Middle East to 400 B.C.

• Link to Study Guide for this chapter
• Link to Primary Sources for this chapter
• Link to Art History for this chapter
• Link to Links to the Web for this chapter

The Ape's Cousin's
Our ape relatives show similarities and differences with human beings.

Bound to the Soil
Agricultural societies grew civilization.

The Price of Civilization
Regular problems resulted from civilized life.

The Rise and Fall of Practically All Middle Eastern Empires
Political states of Sumerians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians fought for dominance.