Customer Reviews

World Civilizations

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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This text is meant to be the backbone reading material in a standard college-level introduction to world history. It is aimed especially at the student encountering the more exotic elements and areas of civilization for the first time, and particularly in junior and community college courses. It has been written from the beginning with such students in mind, and is uniquely equipped with pedagogic devices meant to aid these persons grasp the interrelations among world civilizations. Chapters are keyed to class lecture coverage, with strong emphasis on social and cultural trends and events. Proportionately more space is given to nonwestern peoples than any other text on the market.

Adler's World Civilizations is an excellent introductory survey text. The language is pleasant without being banal. Most importantly the text gives attention to a worldview that shows history globally instead of through the Western tinted glasses our texts in High school usually did.

I picked this up at a library used book sale of donated items. I paid zero for it as it was used and not many people want these large textbooks around the house.

But after paging through the book it really is very nicely arranged with chapters very logically presented with enough, but not an overwhelming amount of of text to slog through until the next heading appears. I find it very appealing visually with a great balance of maps (nice ones), photos and side panels. This is a book I would have considered keeping after using it in a class.

Sometimes its just nice to reach for a book to read about some battle or treaty or geographic region without using the internet to learn something.

In my case, it will be used for filling in historical periods which I might be curious about. It would be worth a few dollars but I can't say more than $20 for a reference work.

I was thoroughly satisfied with the quality of the book and the timeliness. I will use them again. The book had all of its pages; I have ordered at least 10 books from amazon and have not been disappointed yet.

I have to say this is one book that i really enjoyed reading from. It arrived the next week from ordering in perfect condition with only a few highlighted lines i definetly do not regret getting it and i encourage you all to get it.

The book arrived on time as I paid for extra shipping costs. The book was in perfect condition. And, I save money too! Thanks.

This book was required for my granddaughter's history course, which she completed online. There will be bias in any history book, particularly when describing religions, but, in my (biased) opinion, this one seems to give a reasonably balanced view. For example, the author does not use "B.C." or "A.D." for dates, but the "global" and "PC" versions: "BCE" and "CE." (I prefer "B.C." and "A.D.") There are more pages devoted to Islam and its spread than to Christianity, as well. Given the current world situation and the violent actions of Islamic terrorists, I have to wonder if that's a factor. In spite of this, the book does at least try to be fair.

Another, and more subtle, type of bias involved is what is included and what is excluded. For example, there is the barest mention of George Washington, and only in passing, while Thomas Paine gets an entire page and is referenced elsewhere. I do like the organization of the book, which generally follows a time line throughout history, but ,rather than being perfectly chronological, tends to group concepts and ideas along a more generalized era.

An organizational aspect I like is the use of end-of-chapter quizzes, the answers to which are at the back. There are online resources available, as well.

For a beginnning history student at the collegiate (or high-level high school) level, this is a good book.