A Study of History, Vol. 1: Abridgement of Volumes I-VI New Ed Edition

by Arnold J. Toynbee (Author)

73 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0195050806

ISBN-10: 0195050800

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Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History has been acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of modern scholarship. A ten-volume analysis of the rise and fall of human civilizations, it is a work of breath-taking breadth and vision. D.C. Somervell's abridgement, in two volumes, of this magnificent enterprise, preserves the method, atmosphere, texture, and, in many instances, the very words of the original. Originally published in 1947 and 1957, these two volumes are themselves a great historical achievement.
Volume 1, which abridges the first six volumes of Toynbee's study, includes the Introduction, The Geneses of Civilizations, and The Disintegrations of Civilizations. Volume 2, an abridgement of Volumes VII-X, includes sections on Universal States, Universal churches, Heroic Ages, Contacts Between Civilizations in Space, Contacts Between Civilizations in Time, Law and Freedom in History, The Prospects of the Western Civilization, and the Conclusion.
Of Somervell's work, Toynbee wrote, "The reader now has at his command a uniform abridgement of the whole book, made by a clear mind that has not only mastered the contents but has entered into the writer's outlook and purpose."

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Editorial Reviews

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"Of all the books published so far in this century, the one most assured of being read a hundred years from now is A Study of History."--Clifton Fadiman

"Somervell has performed his chosen task--a labor of love--extremely well....A remarkable achievement."--The New York Times Book Review

"Somervell's abridgement is an amazingly accurate version of the original."--New York Herald Tribune

"If...[you] have time for only one book during this year--and the next and the next--Somervell's abridgement of Toynbee's Study of History should be that book."--The Nation

"A veritable masterpiece of erudition and one of the most suggestive, stimulating and inspiring studies of this age."--Los Angeles Times

From the Back Cover

Of Somervell's work, Toynbee wrote, 'The reader now has at his command a uniform abridgement of the whole book, made by a clear mind that has not only mastered the contents but has entered into the writer's outlook and purpose.'

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Product details

Paperback: 640 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; New Ed edition (December 10, 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0195050800
ISBN-13: 978-0195050806
Product Dimensions: 8 x 1.2 x 5.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 73 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #62 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods > Medieval
- #110 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History > Europe
- #625 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Criticism & Theory

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Grand overview of history that concentrates on trends of growth,decline and influence of civilizations

February 10, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

If you are a fan of history,like me, you may find this a valuable overview that will put other readings in perspective. Being 70 years out of date has seen modern research date some of the details but Toynbee's big picture remains intact. I suspect his spiritual bent(i.e. his thoughts on intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivations leading to the only basis for lasting change)may be a part of the reason his work is considered out of date running afoul of the group think by many of the current leading voices in the field. This work is a condensation of the extensive original volumes, but one heartily approved by Toynbee and perhaps superior to the original in that it is succinct and clarifies some of the terminology Toynbee uses to encapsulate his ideas. It comes with the major bonus of a short and well done review of major points at the end of the text. Having read this I feel I have a much better big picture view in my mind that has improved my understanding of subsequent readings in history. Recommended.

18 people found this helpful

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Geoffrey S. Bullard

A good means for understanding the One World argument and the revival of Nationalism characteristic of contemporary politics

December 10, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Hard to imagine grasping the drift of contemporary events without the overview provided by this Toynbee study. Toynbee worked on this 12 volume study from the mid-1920's to the late 1940's. His interest has been to gather together the recorded evidence of all the civilizations, of which he forms his study of the 20 plus civilations that he is able to identify. He admits that this is too few to reach scientific conclusions. He makes some interesting observations however: great civilizations are germinated from almost impossible challenges that are successfully mounted. Success of course produces new challenges. These challenges produce responses and on average he finds that there is a pattern of 3 such successful challenges before the civilization goes into decline. The downside of civilizations has its own peculiar patterns of decline, some of which have lasted for a 1000 years or more. This section may be of particular interest to students of contemporary events. Many are curious if western civilization is in decline as suggested by Oswald Spengler Decline of the West. Whether it is or not, the current political division concerning Making America Great Again is a revival of old nationalism that is resisting A One World View of history. By the way, for those who want a shorter study there is an abridge version of two volumes by Somervell also called A Study of History. As an appendix, this version has a section called "The Argument" that gives the impatient reader a summary of all of Toynbee's points in just a few pages.

8 people found this helpful

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The books istself is wodnerful, copy editing is horrible

May 23, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A lot of back-list books that make it onto Kindle contain obvious typos, presumably because the OCR software gets confused when publishers scan them in. This edition is worse than most, and gets progressively worse as you go on. This is especially confusing because Toybee liked to sprinkle in foreign words and archaic spellings. It is ironic that, these days, the free public domain e-books tend to be well edited by volunteers, whereas with the ones you pay for, the publishers apparently can't afford to hire a copy editor. This is the reason I didn't give this edition 5 stars.

The work itself is brilliant. This book has stimulated me more than any I've read in months (and I read about a book a week). I know that Toynbee's theories are deprecated by modern historians, but they make sense to me. Anyway, I wonder how much of that prejudice is due to political and ideological leanings in most university social science departments, at least here in the US. Toynbee was unashamedly Christian and had some extremely disparaging things to say about Karl Marx. In my experience, that is enough to get you blackballed in some academic circles.

The real reason to read Toynbee, though, is not his impact (or lack thereof) on the historical discipline. His real contribution has been on six decades of fiction, particularly speculative fiction. It is hard to overstate how much he influenced Isac Asimov, Arther C. Clarke, Pohl Anderson, and hundreds of others up to the present day. Now that I have just read Toynbee and received the ideas from the source, it gives me a new depth of appreciation for these authors.

11 people found this helpful

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VERY small print

July 6, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Good condition for a book as old (a reissue from 1950s I believe) However the font is the smallest I have ever encountered and, even with the strongest reading glasses, I cannot read the print. I have never had this problem before. So, take a look at the dimensions before purchasing this version

3 people found this helpful

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A great book, greatly written

September 28, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A great book, greatly written, has lots of information and you don't feel even a minute less interested, a common characteristic in history books for most people as they become boring, not this book, it's as if you were reading a story, just that this time it's real jaja.

6 people found this helpful

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Fernando Villegas

Relevant, Interesting and even necessary, but often very boring

September 3, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is an important, relevant and interesting book, but tediously written, sometimes -many times- smelling to religious partisanship and even pedantic in numerous occasions, but still a reading that must be done if you are an history geek. At least some of his views and intuitions has sense and are deep, but many others does not resist modern historic research.

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A pleasure to read and see!

December 17, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is the famous one-volume edition (now out-of-print) of Toynbee's classic 12-volume 'A Study of History'. It is co-written by Toynbee himself, which means that his exceptional and uplifting prose is available now to the reader in this short edition as well. The prose is accompanied by many excellent illustrations, which make this book a delight to see as well as read. And, of course, the sweep of global history which Toynbee covers comes through well in this edition too.

2 people found this helpful

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invaluable insights

April 25, 2008

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Yes, Toynbee's point of view is a bit archaic. Yes, there are more detailed, more comprehensive studies of history done since his work. And, yes, even the abridgment is heavy reading. But the overview of civilizational development and decline done by Toynbee is unmatched anywhere. The second volume of the abridgment, written 60 years ago and describing civilizations going back thousands of years, is full of glaringly obvious parallels and invaluable insights into what is happening in the world today. Get both volumes of this superb work.

20 people found this helpful

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