Western Civilization

Providing a focused, consistent and engaging narrative throughout the text, Spielvogel is an award-winning teacher and scholar whose clear, lively and informative writing style has made this text a favorite among students. Numerous testimonials from professors ranging from Ivy League universities to two-year technical colleges give the same primary reason for using this text -- because their students can read and understand it.

Included in most chapters, "Opposing Viewpoints" presents a comparison of two or three primary sources in order to facilitate student analysis of historical documents. Topics include The Great Flood: Two Versions; Women in Athens and Sparta; Causes of the Black Death; Women in the Age of the Enlightenment: Rousseau and Wollstonecraft; White Man’s Burden Versus Black Man’s Burden and Who Started the Cold War: American and Soviet Perspectives. Assignable questions at the end of each feature aid individual and collaborative study.

Combining two or more illustrations with a lengthy caption, the "Images of Everyday Life" feature gives readers insight into various aspects of social life throughout history as it spotlights such topics as "Children in the Roman World," "Family and Marriage in Renaissance Italy," "Women in the Enlightenment Salon" and "Youth Culture in the 1960s."

"Historians Debate" features highlight brief explanations about varying views on historical interpretation to remind students that history isn't always as simple as black and white. Examples include "Was There a United Kingdom of Israel?"; "Was There a Renaissance for Women?"; "Was There an Agricultural Revolution?"; "The Retreat from Democracy: Did Europe Have Totalitarian States?" and "Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse?"