The West: Encounters & Transformations, Volume I (Chapters 1-16) (MyHistoryLab Series) [Paperback]

Brian P. Levack (Author), Edward Muir (Author), Michael Maas (Author), Meredith Veldman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0673982505 | ISBN-13: 978-0673982506 | Publication Date: December 11, 2003

The West: Encounters and Transformations takes a new approach to telling the story of Western Civilization. Rather than looking at Western Civilization only as the history of Europe from ancient times to the present, this groundbreaking book examines the changing nature of the West--how the definition of the West has evolved and transformed throughout history. It explores the ways Western civilization has changed as a result of cultural encounters with different beliefs, ideas, technologies, and peoples, both outside the West and within it. Presenting a balanced treatment of political, social, religious, and cultural history, this new text emphasizes the ever-shifting boundaries of the geographic and cultural realm of the West, with special attention given to Eastern Europe and the Muslim world, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I enjoyed every page and could hardly put it down."—Patricia Ali, Morris College

"I am impressed by the cultural encounters approach that this textbook uses. Showing the various forces of history will help students understand how everything in history meshes together into a giant story, instead of just being a jumble of facts."—Leonard Curtis, Mississippi College

"The authors are absolutely right-on when they argue that the west is an idea shaped by cultural encounters...this is the only way that western civilization courses can be taught in the 21st century."—Bryan Ganaway, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"The author(s) have done an outstanding job of writing a text that is...lucid...and comprehensive."—Sharon L. Arnoult, Midwestern State University

"Too many texts are afraid to be interesting, engaging or to tell a good story...this textbook provides comprehensive coverage of events and also tells some good stories, nice to see that this can be done in a textbook today. This is the kind of textbook that helps make a course interesting, helping professors who have trouble being lively and supporting those who try to engage students with good stories based in different methods, countries, and areas of interest."—Patrick Holt, Fordham University

"The writing style is friendly, warm, and persuasive. Students will want to read these chapters and continue reading them." —Theodore M. Kluz, Troy State University

"Finally, a textbook for Western civilization courses that uses modern, clear language without distorting the record of the past, that combines forceful interpretation with the 'facts' and that marries brevity to faithfulness to history! The 'encounters' theme is a most effective pedagogical method, and is in keeping with the approach of the West being a cultural construct. This is an innovative approach, appropriate for today's students living in our global world."—Arthur H. Auten, University of Hartford

From the Back Cover

• NEW FEATURE! “Difference Voices”: This feature pairs two documents that present different and often opposing views on a topic discussed in the chapter. Each feature includes an introduction that provides the background for the documents and a set of questions for discussion.
• Coverage of ancient Egypt is now consolidated in Chapter 1.
• Coverage of the ancient Hebrews in Chapter 2 has been expanded.
• The third edition features separate chapters on Hellenistic Civilization and the Roman Republic; the second edition combined coverage of these topics in a single chapter.
• Improved Pedagogy: Each chapter concludes with two sets of review questions. The first set repeats the questions asked at the beginning of each section of the chapter, while the second, titled “Taking It Further,” pushes students to think more analytically and comparatively. The Chapter Review lists all of the key terms highlighted and discussed throughout the chapter and defined in the glossary.
• Streamlined coverage throughout makes the third edition more manageable for students: The text has been streamlined through careful editing by the authors, leading to a 25 percent length reduction in the third edition without loss of coverage.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Longman (December 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0673982505
• ISBN-13: 978-0673982506
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,412,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Great on the Details, March 27, 2010

By 

Patrick McCullough (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The West: Encounters & Transformations, Volume 1 (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

This textbook has some advantages in terms of considering the "significance" of historical events and phenomena, but it suffers severely in terms of basic details and even offers inaccurate phrasing of important historical data. Admirably, the textbook hammers home the concept of cultural identity through its coverage of many different periods and peoples. This is not the only theme it highlights, but also attempts to give significant space to other sorts of "significance" of historical events--giving students some interesting perspective beyond the facts and figures.

Unfortunately, it offers poor explanation of the details, revealing an ignorance of current scholarship (one need not talk like a scholar for a textbook, but should reflect the best scholarship). We used this textbook in a course on Western Civilization, for which I was a Teaching Assistant. My own specialty is in Christian origins. Thus I noticed inaccuracies in that area. For instance, Jesus is described as the "founder of Christianity." Rather than discuss the pastoral and occasional nature of Paul's letters, the textbook states that his letters "articulate key doctrines of the Christian faith--doctrines that helped divide Christianity from Judaism." The description is generally unhelpful and the term "doctrine" anachronistic (implying a later "system" of doctrines). Students get an image of Jesus founding a new religion from scratch and Paul making certain that the two (supposedly distinct) religions are clearly divided. These things may have happened much later, but is inaccurate regarding the first century situation.

My fellow Teaching Assistants noted similar inaccuracies and missing data in their own fields, such as Ancient Greece and Rome. We noticed that much data is missing in favor of more explanation of "significance." It is my opinion that a textbook like this should provide a firmer foundation of data.

Furthermore, the book fails in terms of its basic "tools" for students. The index is spotty, missing out on important terms (the Egyptian concept of Ma'at, for instance), and sometimes even incorrect pagination. The glossary of terms is quite weak in its selection of terms. For example, out of the sixty or so terms required of students in one course on Western Civilization for their exam (*central* names and events), less than ten appear in the Glossary. The boxes offering lists of dates often miss important events in the timeline. Such weaknesses make exam study for students very difficult.

I have not used many other textbooks on Western Civilization, but Civilization in the West by Kishlansky/Geary/O'Brien (same publisher) is a much better option (even if its maps are not quite as attractive as Levack).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic textbook, February 1, 2007

By 

Bookworm (Oviedo, FL, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The West: Encounters & Transformations, Volume I (Chapters 1-16) (MyHistoryLab Series) (Paperback)

This textbook is not only written in a conversational tone which holds the reader's attention, but it brings in art, personalities of historical figures, and other tidbits to enhance a student's learning experience. The illustrations used are fantastic and can spur students to delve further into many subjects. History should be exciting as evidenced by this book!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Textbook, September 25, 2009

By 

Emily M. O'loughlin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The West: Encounters & Transformations, Volume A (to 1550) (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

Bought this for my Humanities I class. It has helped me understand some of the events we talk about in class and the geography of the regions we're studying.