West, The

A. Daniel Frankforter is Professor of History at the Pennsylvania State University, where he has taught for four decades. His undergraduate work was in the history of ideas and philosophy at Franklin and Marshall College. He earned a Master of Divinity degree from Drew University, did graduate work at Columbia University and the University of Göttingen, and completed master’s and doctoral degrees in medieval history and religious studies at Penn State. His research interests are in English ecclesiastical history, the evolving status of women in medieval Europe, and textual criticism. Articles on these topics have appeared in such journals as Manuscripta, Church History, The British Studies Monitor, The Catholic Historical Review, The American Benedictine Review, The International Journal of Women’s Studies, and The Journal of Women’s History. His books include A History of the Christian Movement: An Essay on the Development of Christian Institutions, Civilization and Survival, The Shakespeare Name Dictionary (with J. Madison Davis), The Medieval Millennium: An Introduction, The Western Heritage, brief edition (with Donald Kagan, Stephen Ozment, and Frank Turner), The Heritage of World Civilizations, brief third edition (with Albert Craig, William Graham, Donald Kagan, Stephen Ozment, and Frank Turner), an edition and translation of Poullain de la Barre’s De L’Égalité des deux Sexes, and Stones for Bread: A Critique of Contemporary Worship. His most recent work is: Word of God/Words of Men: The Use and Abuse of Scripture. Over the course of his career he has developed 15 courses dealing with aspects of the ancient and medieval periods of Western civilization, the Judeo-Christian tradition, and gender issues. His service in the classroom has been acknowledged by the Penn State Behrend Excellence in Teaching Award and the prestigious Amoco Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching Performance. William M. Spellman is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina Asheville and Director of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, a constorium of twenty-six institutions in the United States and Canada. He is a graduate of Suffolk University, Boston, and holds a PhD from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is the author of John Locke and The Problem of Depravity (Oxford, 1988); The Latitudinarians and the Church of England (Georgia, 1993); John Locke (Macmillan, 1995): European Political Thought, 1600-1700 (Macmillan, 1997); Monarchies, 1000-2000 (Reaktion, 2000); The Global Community: Migration and the Making of the Modern World (Sutton, 2002): A Concise History of the World Since 1945 (Palgrave, 2006); Uncertain Identity: International Migration Since 1945 (Reaktion, 2008); and A Short History of Western Political Thought (Palgrave, 2011).

Found in this section:

1. Brief Table of Contents

2. Full Table of Contents




1. BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Part I Departure Prehistory to 1000 B.C.E.

Chapter 1 The Birth of Civilization

Chapter 2 The Rise of Empires and the Beginning of the Iron Age

Part II The Classical Era 2000 B.C.E. to 30 C.E.

Chapter 3 Aegean Civilizations

Chapter 4 The Hellenic Era

Chapter 5 The Hellenistic Era and the Rise of Rome

Chapter 6 Rome’s Empire and the Unification of the Western World

Part III The Division of the West 300 to 1300

Chapter 7 The West’s Medieval Civilizations

Chapter 8 The Emergence of Europe

Chapter 9 Europe Turns Outward

Chapter 10 Europe’s High Middle Ages

Part IV Challenges, Conflicts, and Departures 1300 to 1700

Chapter 11 Challenges to the Medieval Order

Chapter 12 Renaissance and Exploration

Chapter 13 Reformation, Religious Wars, and National Conflicts




2. FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Part I — Departure Prehistory to 1000 B.C.E.

Chapter 1: The Birth of Civilization

Key Question: How do environments shape human communities and human communities alter environments?

The Evolution of the Prehistoric Cultures

The Archaic States

The Origin of Civilization in Mesopotamia: Sumer

The Rise of Civilization in Egypt

Chapter 2: The Rise of Empires and the Beginning of the Iron Age

Key Question: Does civilization promote or intensify divisions among peoples?

The Transition States

Imperial Egypt: The New Kingdom

The Indo-Europeans and the Clash of Empires

The Bible and History

Part II — The Classical Era 2000 B.C.E. to 30 C.E.

Chapter 3: Aegean Civilizations

Key Question: When does civilization in the West become “Western” civilization?

Minoan Mentors

The Mycenaeans, Greece’s First Civilization

The Aegean Dark Age

The Hellenic Era

The Rise of the Mainland Powers

The Persian Wars: Crucible of a Civilization

Chapter 4: The Hellenic Era

Key Question: What did the Greeks contribute to the development of modern civilization?

Persian Wars as Catalyst

The Peloponnesian War

Intellectual and Artistic Life in the Polis

Chapter 5: The Hellenistic Era and the Rise of Rome

Key Question: What circumstances are likely to undermine governments by the people?

The Hellenistic Era

The Origin of Rome

The Roman Republic

Rome’s Civil War

Chapter 6: Rome ’s Empire and the Unification of the Western World

Key Question: Do people prefer order to liberty?

The Augustan Era

Order and Continuity: The Dynastic Option

Order and Continuity: The Elective Option

Life in an Imperial Environment

The Decline of Rome

Part III — The Division of the West 300 to 1300

Chapter 7: The West’s Medieval Civilizations

Key Question: Should freedom of religion be limited?

The Christian Element

The German Element

The Byzantine Empire of Constantinople

Islam

Chapter 8: The Emergence of Europe

Key Question: How did Europe build on its legacies from the ancient world?

The Merovingian Kingdom: Europe’s Nucleus

The Franks’ Neighbors

The Carolingian Era

Retrenchment and Reorganization

The Culture of Europe’s Dark Age

Chapter 9: Europe Turns Outward

Key Question: Was conflict among the medieval civilizations inevitable?

Islam’s Crest and Byzantium’s Resurgence

The Reorganization of Feudal Europe

The Eleventh-Century Turning Point

Chapter 10: Europe ’s High Middle Ages

Key Question: Why are some societies more open to change than others?

The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century

Universities and Scholasticism

Religious Revival and Diversity of Opinion

The Artistic Vision of the High Middle Ages

Government in the High Middle Ages

Part IV — Challenges, Conflicts, and Departures 1300 to 1700

Chapter 11: Challenges to the Medieval Order

Key Question: What did the crises of the late medieval era reveal about the strengths and weaknesses of Europe’s civilization?

Challenges from Nature

Turmoil in the Middle East

Spiritual Crises

Political Responses: The Burdens of War

Chapter 12: Renaissance and Exploration

Key Question: How should a society use its history?

The Context for the Renaissance

The Culture of the Renaissance

The Northern Renaissance

The Middle East: The Ottoman Empire

Europe and Atlantic Exploration

Chapter 13: Reformation, Religious Wars, and National Conflicts

Key Question: How do civilized societies justify war?

The Lutheran Reformation

The Swiss Reformation

The Catholic Reformation

The Habsburg-Valois Wars

England’s Ambivalent Reformation

Convergence of Foreign and Domestic Politics: England, Spain, and France

The Final Religious Upheaval