Customer Reviews

The Western Heritage, Combined, Eighth Edition

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This text discusses the basic developments in Western civilization with a richness and variety that does justice to certain themes considered critical in our heritage. The development of political freedom, concern for the rule of law, the interaction between religion, society and the state, the evolution of science and technology, are among the fundamental themes in Western civilization. The Foundation of Western Civilization in the Ancient World is well covered. How civilization evolved from simple societies is treated in an excellent fashion from the experience and culture of the Greeks, while Greek civilization is shown to be richly nouriched by older civilizations such as the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations.

Apparently this page is selling two different books. After reading the description, I was confident I was buying the combined edition text book, but when I received my package what I really bought was a set of map notes. If you buy the hardcover version, you apparently get the textbook, but if you buy the paperback, it's just the map notes. I went back to see how I could have made this mistake, and the only thing on the page to tip me off was that the package would weigh 4 ounces and the book was only 72 pages long. Everything else on this page makes it sound like you are buying the textbook, but there's a good possibility that you actually are not. Be aware.

This was by far the most interesting history book that I have ever read. It is a brilliant amalgamation of facts, interesting analysis, maps, and historical documents that constantly touches on recurring themes throughout European History. I read it for the AP Euro class I took last year and, truthfully, it is the only thing you need to succeed on the essays of the AP test. However, all of the chapters are at least 30 pages long, with much material to comprehend and note-taking is necessary to remember much relevant information. If you have the time to put in to it, though, you will not regret slaving over this textbook.

This text discusses the basic developments in Western civilization with a richness and variety that does justice to certain themes considered critical in our heritage. The development of political freedom, concern for the rule of law, the interaction between religion, society and the state, the evolution of science and technology, are among the fundamental themes in Western civilization. The Foundation of Western Civilization in the Ancient World is well covered. How civilization evolved from simple societies is treated in an excellent fashion from the experience and culture of the Greeks, while Greek civilization is shown to be richly nouriched by older civilizations such as the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations.

This textbook is filled with misinformation, typos, and blatant grammatical errors. I hope professors stop requesting that students read this text. The only thing worse than the book is the compainion website. It has practice test questions that contradict the "real" test and quiz questions that they provide. If you take this course DL like I did, this really makes a big difference. I have spent the better half of the semester arguing for points from my professor (and winning) who apparently never bothered to read the tests or the text (I should get paid from him!!)
One example, on a practice test, when you type in the name Pompey, a correct answer, it tells you that you are wrong because it is Pomey (there is no such Roman General)
When you contact the publisher's website administrator, they tell you that you need to talk to your professor to get anything changed. That was two months ago, he nor they have done anything about it. I am not exagerating when I say that is one of at least 25 examples that I have noticed.

Also, there is a lot of inconsistency in the writing styles of chapters. There is an overemphasis of women. Now, I am a women and I agree that we have been left out of history for way too long. This book has a section per chapter just reminding you how bad we had it throughout history. Chapter after chapter in the ancient and middle ages sections at least, women's lots did not change a lot. I think they could have just updated us when major advancements were made.

I ordered this book and paid 20.00 extra to have it shipped in two days. It did not come in two days, however I was very pleased with the sellers because the quality was brand new and it saved me money. My suggestion yes use this seller do not pay extra for quick delivery.

This book is filled to the brim with wrong facts, terrible sources, and just wrong information. Anyone with any knowledge of this era would see that there are blatant lies in it. It has one of the Worst Anti-Catholic Bias's I have ever seen. It constantly bad mouths the church and tells lies. It is Absolutely Terrible. It is obvious that the person who wrote this has some beef with the church and just want to make everyone else think it is the most terrible institution. It praises anything that is against the church and never says anything good about the church at all. Never buy this or any of it's editions. This book should be boycotted not only by the Catholics around the World but also by the people who don't want their innocent children being lied to in a textbook something that should be trusted!!
I am currently working on a paper that shows many of the misinformation and shows the truth. So far I am only 23 pages into the book and I have 8 pages written already!