Western Civilizations: Renaissance to the Present,   ISBN:9780072819649

Customer Rating: 

i mean this book isn't that amazing as it seems... it's not really that necessary but it's a good review, but very very brief compared to other study guides. i mean, i guess it just refreshes your memory but you already have to know it. it provides primary sourced documents... which are cool i guess but kind of useless unless you really want to know history's p.o.v's. then it has illustrations, which is pretty nice to have, explanations included. then it has secondary sources, which for me, are easier to comprehend (they tell the historian's pov). but yeah, this book is nice to have, but kind of useless... and it's pretty pricey too haha

Customer Rating: 

This book is unique in its balance of primary sources and their interpretations. All the figures you'd expect are present: Macchiavelli, Luther, Locke, Paine, Engles, Freud, etc. And with secondary sources coming from Fromm, Ulam, et. al, the data is clearly and comprehensively analyzed. What readers will appreciate are the generous illustrations throughout the text which give you some idea how the philosophies/theories/values of the times are reflected in visual media. What some readers won't appreaciate is the single-spaced type that changes font and styles so often that one might get motion sickness. It's a minor point that has nothing to do with the value of the texts presented, but it does interfere with the pleasure of reading. Still, this is a great history book to teach from or just as a casual read/refresher for the history fan.