Readings in the Western Humanities, Volume 2 [Paperback]

Roy Matthews (Author), Dewitt Platt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072556404 | ISBN-13: 978-0072556407 | Publication Date: August 29, 2003 | Edition: 5

Volume 2 of Readings in the Western Humanities presents a wide array of primary source readings ranging from the Renaissance to the present day.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 5 edition (August 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072556404
• ISBN-13: 978-0072556407
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Readings in the Western Humanities through the Renaissance, January 12, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Readings in the Western Humanities, Volume 1 (Paperback)

This is the fifth edition of "Readings in the Western Humanities, Volume I: Beginnings Through the Renaissance," which complements the first volume of the fifth edition of the textbook "The Western Humanities" by Roy T. Matthews and F. Dewitt Platt, which covers ancient Mesopotamia through the Renaissance (with Volume II doing the Renaissance through the 20th century, leaving it up to professors and institutions to decide whether the Renaissance gets covered first semester or second). When I took history classes in school I always thought it would be nice to read some of the great works of literature and famous speeches from history, because those are primary documents representing the times. Now I find out that in Humanities you can combine history and literature and have been looking at textbooks for a two-semester Humanities course. What attracted me to the Matthews and Platt volumes were these supplemental reading texts (and the CDs with representative music).

In terms of the selections included in this first reading the strategy is clearly to cover the basic texts. If you are only going to do one Greek tragedy it should be "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles and that is what is here, as is the section on Aristotle's "Poetics" that talks about the key elements of tragedy. Instead of choosing between Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey," they provide selections from both. The book begins with the beginnings of Western literature, with selections from "The Code of Hammurabi" and "The Epic of Gilgamesh." The Romans are covered in a bit more depth than the ancient Greeks but the section on the World of Islam is comparable to that of Judaism and the Rise of Christianity, which is certainly relevant in these times. You will find selections from St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Dantes's "Inferno," Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geoffrey Chaucer, Baldassare Castiglione, and Niccolo Machiavelli. The result is a solid coverage of the West's literary and philosophical heritage, from "Beowulf" to the "Song of Roland." Apparently some of changes were in response to the requests of reviewers and those additions noted in the preface are certainly welcome, even at the expense of "Lysistrata."

Matthews and Platt note that the most substantive change in these readings are the footnotes that provide annotations for identifying difficult proper names, place names, titles, terms, ideas, quotations, and allusions in each selection that are either vital to a work's meaning or useful to know. Having taken considerable pride in doing this for the collection of great speeches that I co-edited many years ago, I certainly applaud this effort (although half the fun of teaching is standing up in front of your students and explaining all about Tiresias the blind prophet of Thebes and how Dante organized the circles of Hell. Now all I have to do is get these classes on the schedule so I can actually use these books.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Customer Service, January 4, 2012

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kek5116 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Readings in the Western Humanities, Volume 2 (Paperback)

Bought this book becuase I believed it was the right one. it matched everything on the description of the book i needed however, whenever I recieved the book it was only chapters 10-? I needed the whole book. I immediately emailed the seller of this book and she was amazing. she was so nice and refunded my money for me. I appreciated everything and she was a great person!

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars wanna wait 6 weeks for your books?, March 9, 2010

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S. Moyer (pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Readings in the Western Humanities, Volume 2 (Paperback)

the book was in great condition for a college student, but by the time my first exam came around, i still did not have the book. it felt like it took forever to receive!