A History of Western Society grew out of the initial three authors’ desire to infuse new life into the study of Western Civilization. With this eleventh edition, we three new authors, Clare Haru Crowston, Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, and Joe Perry — who first used the book as students or teachers — have assumed full responsibility for the revision and continue to incorporate the latest and best scholarship in the field. All three of us regularly teach introductory history courses and thus bring insights from the classroom, as well as from new secondary works and our own research in archives and libraries, into the text.

In this new edition we aimed to enhance the distinctive attention to daily life that sparks students’ interest while also providing a number of innovative tools — both print and digital — designed to help students think historically and master the material. In response to the growing emphasis on historical thinking skills in the teaching of history at all levels, as well as to requests from our colleagues and current adopters, we have significantly expanded the book’s primary source program to offer more sources in more ways. Every chapter now has at least five primary sources, both written and visual, and additional document sets online. Indeed, as the digital world continues to transform teaching and learning, this edition is integrated with exciting new online resources — automatically available when students purchase a new copy of the book — consisting of Online Document Assignments tied closely to each chapter that allow students to practice analysis and synthesis of fascinating document sets, as well as LearningCurve, an adaptive learning tool that helps students master the content. Finally, this edition introduces LaunchPad, a robust new interactive e-book built into its own course space that makes customizing and assigning the book and its resources simpler than ever. To learn more about the benefits of LearningCurve and LaunchPad, see the “Versions and Supplements” section on page xvii.

The Story of A History of Western Society: Bringing the Past to Life for Students

At the point when A History of Western Society was first conceptualized, social history was dramatically changing the ways we understood the past, and the original authors decided to create a book that would re-create the lives of ordinary people in appealing human terms, while also giving major economic, political, cultural, and intellectual developments the attention they unquestionably deserve. We three new authors remain committed to advancing this vision for today’s classroom, with a broader definition of social history that brings the original idea into the twenty-first century.

History as a discipline never stands still, and over the last several decades cultural history has joined social history as a source of dynamism. Because of its emphasis on the ways people made sense of their lives, A History of Western Society has always included a large amount of cultural history, ranging from foundational works of philosophy and literature to popular songs and stories. The focus on cultural history has been heightened in this eleventh edition in a way that highlights the interplay between men’s and women’s lived experiences and the ways men and women reflect on these experiences to create meaning. The joint social and cultural perspective requires — fortunately, in our opinion — the inclusion of objects as well as texts as important sources for studying history, which has allowed us to incorporate the growing emphasis on material culture in the work of many historians. We know that engaging students’ interest in the past is often a challenge, but we also know that the text’s hallmark approach — the emphasis on daily life and individual experience in its social and cultural dimensions — connects with students and makes the past vivid and accessible.

Additional “Life” Chapters

Although social and cultural history can be found in every chapter, they are particularly emphasized in the acclaimed “Life” chapters that have always distinguished this book. In response to popular demand by reviewers of the previous edition, these have been increased to five in this edition and now include Chapter 4: Life in the Hellenistic World, 336–30 B.C.E., and Chapter 30: Life in an Age of Globalization, 1990 to the Present, which join Chapter 10: Life in Villages and Cities of the High Middle Ages, 1000–1300; Chapter 18: Life in the Era of Expansion, 1650–1800; and Chapter 22: Life in the Emerging Urban Society, 1840–1914.

We are delighted to incorporate additional “Life” chapters into this edition, as many instructors have told us that it is these distinctive chapters that spark student interest by making the past palpable and approachable in human terms. And because we know that a key challenge of teaching history — and Western Civilization in particular — is encouraging students to appreciate the relevance of the past to our lives today, these five “Life” chapters each include a NEW feature called “The Past Living Now” that examines an aspect of life today with origins in the period covered in that chapter. Featuring engaging topics such as the development of the modern university (Chapter 10) and the dawn of commercialized sports (Chapter 18), these essays were conceived with student interest in mind. These “Life” chapters are also enhanced with NEW Online Document Assignments, rich and carefully crafted sets of primary sources that allow students to delve further into a key development from each chapter while they analyze and synthesize the evidence. See the “More Sources More Ways” section below for more details.

More Sources More Ways

Because understanding the past requires that students engage directly with sources on their own, this edition features an exciting NEW and expansive primary source program. Each chapter now includes at least five sources, both written and visual, and each source opens with a headnote and closes with questions for analysis that invite students to evaluate the evidence as historians would. Selected for their interest and carefully integrated into their historical context, these sources provide students with firsthand encounters with people of the past along with the means and tools for building historical skills.

To give students abundant opportunities to hone their textual and visual analysis skills as well as a sense of the variety of sources on which historians rely, the primary source program includes a mix of canonical and lesser-known sources; a diversity of perspectives representing ordinary and prominent individuals alike; and a wide variety of source types, from tomb inscriptions, diaries, sermons, letters, poetry, and drama to artifacts, architecture, and propaganda posters. In addition, we have quoted extensively from a wide range of primary sources in the narrative, demonstrating that such quotations are the “stuff ” of history. We believe that our extensive use of primary source extracts as an integral part of the narrative as well as in extended form in the primary source boxes will give students ample practice in thinking critically and historically.

This edition also breaks new ground by offering additional document sets online — called Online Document Assignments — tied closely to each chapter of the text and available with the purchase of a new textbook via the code printed on the inside front cover. Each assignment, based on either the “Individuals in Society” feature or key developments from the “Life” chapters (Chapters 4, 10, 18, 22, and 30), prompts students to explore a key question through analysis of multiple sources. Chapter 14, for example, asks students to analyze documents on the complexities of race, identity, and slavery in the early modern era to shed light on the conditions that made Juan de Pareja’s story possible. The assignments feature a wealth of textual and visual sources as well as video and audio. Assignments based on the “Individuals in Society” feature include three to four documents in each assignment, while those based on the “Life” chapters include six to eight documents. These Online Document Assignments provide instructors with a rich variety of assignment options that encourage students to draw their own conclusions, with the help of short-answer questions, multiple-choice questions that provide instant feedback, and a final essay assignment that asks students to use the sources in creative ways.

Finally, the thoroughly revised companion reader, Sources for Western Society, Third Edition, provides a rich selection of documents to complement each chapter of the text and is FREE when packaged with the textbook.

Distinctive Essay Features

In addition to the new primary source program, we are proud of the two unique boxed essay features in each chapter — “Individuals in Society” and “Living in the Past” — that personalize larger developments and make them tangible.

To give students a chance to see the past through ordinary people’s lives, each chapter includes one of the popular “Individuals in Society” biographical essays, which offer brief studies of individuals or groups, informing students about the societies in which they lived. We have found that readers empathize with these human beings as they themselves seek to define their own identities. The spotlighting of individuals, both famous and obscure, perpetuates the book’s continued attention to cultural and intellectual developments, highlights human agency, and reflects changing interests within the historical profession as well as the development of “microhistory.” NEW features include essays on Anna Jansz of Rotterdam, an Anabaptist martyr; Hürrem, a concubine who became a powerful figure in the Ottoman Empire during the sixteenth century; and Rebecca Protten, a former slave and leader in the Moravian missionary movement. As mentioned previously, the majority of these features are tied to NEW Online Document Assignments that allow students to further explore the historical conditions in which these individuals lived.

To introduce students to the study of material culture, “Living in the Past” essays use social and cultural history to show how life in the past was both similar to and different from our lives today. As authors, we found it both a challenge and a pleasure to focus on relatively narrow aspects of social and cultural history in order to write compelling stories that would encourage students to think about the way the past informs the present. These features are richly illustrated with images and artifacts and include a short essay and questions for analysis. We use these essays to explore the deeper ramifications of things students might otherwise take for granted, such as consumer goods, factories, and even currency. Students connect to the people of the past through a diverse range of topics such as “Assyrian Palace Life and Power,” “Roman Table Manners,” “Foods of the Columbian Exchange,” “Coffeehouse

Updated Organization and Coverage

To meet the demands of the evolving course, we took a close and critical look at the book’s structure and have made changes in the organization of chapters to reflect the way the course is taught today. Most notably, in addition to consolidating some coverage in the two new “Life” chapters described previously, we have combined the three chapters on the High Middle Ages in the previous edition into two (Chapters 9 and 10), restructuring and in some cases shortening sections but retaining all key concepts and topics, resulting in one fewer chapter overall. Chapter 9 now focuses more tightly on political, legal, and institutional developments in church and state, and Chapter 10 on the life of both villagers and city folk.

This edition is also enhanced by the incorporation of a wealth of new scholarship and subject areas that immerse students in the dynamic and ongoing work of history. Chapters 1–6 have been intensively revised to incorporate the exciting cross-disciplinary scholarship that has emerged over the last several decades on the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras, river valley civilizations, and the ancient Mediterranean. For example, archaeologists working at Göbekli Tepe in present-day Turkey have unearthed rings of massive, multiton, elaborately carved limestone pillars built around 9000 B.C.E. by groups of foragers, which has led to a rethinking of the links between culture, religion, and the initial development of agriculture. Similarly, new research on the peoples of Mesopotamia, based on cuneiform writing along with other sources, has led scholars to revise the view that they were fatalistic and to emphasize instead that Mesopotamians generally anticipated being well treated by the gods if they behaved morally. Throughout these chapters, new material on cross-cultural connections, the impact of technologies, and changing social relationships has been added, particularly in Chapter 4, which has been recast as Life in the Hellenistic World. Other additions include an expanded discussion of the historiography of the fall of the Roman Empire (Chapter 7); new material on the reconquista (Chapter 9); recent ideas on the impact of empire on the Scientific Revolution (Chapter 16); more on the experiences of African Americans, Native Americans, and women in the revolutionary era (Chapter 19); significant updates to the Industrial Revolution coverage, including increased attention to the global context (Chapter 20); revised treatment of ideologies and romanticism (Chapter 21); new coverage of the popular appeal of nationalism (Chapter 23); new material on Orientalism and European imperialism (Chapter 24); extensive updates on the Cold War (Chapter 28); and up-to-date coverage of contemporary events in the final chapter, now called Life in an Age of Globalization, including the euro crisis, issues surrounding immigration and Muslims in Europe, and the Arab Spring (Chapter 30).

Improved Learning Aids

We know firsthand and take seriously the challenges students face in understanding, retaining, and mastering so much material that is often unfamiliar. With the goal of making this the most student-centered edition yet, we continued to enhance the book’s pedagogy on many fronts. As mentioned earlier, the NEW LearningCurve online adaptive tool allows students to rehearse the content and come to class prepared. In addition, to focus students’ reading, each chapter opens with a chapter preview with focus questions keyed to the main chapter headings. These questions are repeated within the chapter and again in the NEW “Review and Explore” section at the end of each chapter that provides helpful guidance for reviewing key topics. In addition, NEW “Make Connections” questions prompt students to assess larger developments across chapters, thus allowing them to develop skills in evaluating change and continuity, making comparisons, and analyzing context and causation.

Each “Review and Explore” section concludes with a NEW “Suggested Reading and Media Resources” listing that includes up-to-date readings on the vast amount of new work being done in many fields, as well as recommended documentaries, feature films, television, and Web sites.

To help students understand the material and prepare for exams, each chapter includes“Looking Back, Looking Ahead” conclusions that provide an insightful synthesis of the chapter’s main developments, while connecting to events that students will encounter in the chapters to come. In this way students are introduced to history as an ongoing process of interrelated events.

To promote clarity and comprehension, boldface key terms in the text are defined in the margins and listed in the chapter review. Phonetic spellings are located directly after terms that readers are likely to find hard to pronounce. The chapter chronologies, which review major developments discussed in each chapter, mirror the key events of the chapter, and the topic-specific thematic chronologies that appear in many chapters provide a more focused timeline of certain developments. Once again we also provide a unified timeline at the end of the text. Comprehensive and easy to locate, this useful timeline allows students to compare developments over the centuries.

The high-quality art and map program has been thoroughly revised and features hundreds ofcontemporaneous illustrations. To make the past tangible, and as an extension of our attention to cultural history, we include numerous artifacts — from swords and fans to playing cards and record players. As in earlier editions, all illustrations have been carefully selected to complement the text,

We recognize students’ difficulties with geography, and the new edition includes the popular “Mapping the Past” map activities. Included in each chapter, these activities give students valuable skills in reading and interpreting maps by asking them to analyze the maps and make connections to the larger processes discussed in the narrative.

These new directions have not changed the central mission of the book, which is to introduce students to the broad sweep of Western Civilization in a fresh yet balanced manner. Every edition has incorporated new research to keep the book up-to-date and respond to the changing needs of readers and instructors, and we have continued to do this in the eleventh edition. As we have made these changes, large and small, we have sought to give students and teachers an integrated perspective so that they could pursue — on their own or in the classroom — the historical questions that they find particularly exciting and significant.

Acknowledgments

It is a pleasure to thank the many instructors who read and critiqued the manuscript through its development:

William M. Abbott, Fairfield University

Joseph Avitable, Quinnipiac University

Dudley Belcher, Tri-County Technical College

Amy Bix, Iowa State University

Nancy Bjorklund, Fullerton College

Robert Blackey, California State University, San Bernardino

Stephen Blumm, Montgomery County Community College

Robert Brennan, Cape Fear Community College

Daniel Bubb, Gonzaga University

Jeff Burson, Georgia Southern University

George Carson, Central Bible College

Michael Cavey, Northern Virginia Community College

Marie Therese Champagne, University of West Florida

Mark W. Chavalas, University of Wisconsin–LaCrosse

David Cherry, Montana State University, Bozeman

Benzion Chinn, Ohio State University

Thomas Colbert, Marshalltown Community College

Elizabeth Collins, Triton College

Amy Colon, Sullivan County Community College

Kristen Cornelis, Community Colleges of Spokane, Institute for Extended Learning

Michael H. Creswell, Florida State University

Andrea DeKoter, State University of New York at Cortland

Donna Donald, Liberty University

Kurt J. Eberly, Tidewater Community College

John Ebley, Anne Arundel Community College

Christopher Ferguson, Auburn University

Robert Figueira, Lander University

Paula Findlen, Stanford University

Jennifer Foray, Purdue University

Laura Gathagan, State University of New York at Cortland

Stephen Gibson, Allegany College of Maryland

Gregory Golden, Rhode Island College

Jack Goldstone, George Mason University

Chuck Goodwin, Illinois Valley Community College

Dolores Grapsas, New River Community College

Robert Grasso, Monmouth University

Robert H. Greene, University of Montana

Edward Gutierrez, University of Hartford

David Halahmy, Cypress College

Michael Harkins, Harper College

David M. Head, John Tyler Community College

Jeff Horn, Manhattan College

Barry Jordan, Cape Fear Community College

Cheryl L. Kajs, Pellissippi State Community College

Michael Kennedy, High Point University

Michele Kinney, Strayer University

Willem Klooster, Clark University

Pamela Koenig, Seminole State College

Roy G. Koepp, University of Nebraska at Kearney

James Krapfl, McGill University

Andrew E. Larsen, Marquette University

Kenneth Loiselle, Rice University

Susan Mattern, The University of Georgia

Maureen A. McCormick, Florida State College at Jacksonville

James McIntyre, Moraine Valley Community College

Deena McKinney, East Georgia College

Linda A. McMillin, Susquehanna University

Jennifer McNabb, Western Illinois University

Michael Meng, Clemson University

Scott Merriman, Troy University

Ryan Messenger, Monroe Community College/Genesee Community College

Byron J. Nakamura, Southern Connecticut State University

Jeannine Olson, Rhode Island College

Lisa Ossian, Des Moines Area Community College

Jotham Parsons, Duquesne University

Margaret Peacock, The University of Alabama

Kathy L. Pearson, Old Dominion University

Amanda Podany, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Ann Pond, Bishop State Community College

Matthew Restall, Pennsylvania State University

Michael D. Richards, Northern Virginia Community College

Jason Ripper, Everett Community College

Russell J. Rockefeller, Anne Arundel Community College

Leonard N. Rosenband, Utah State University

Mark Edward Ruff, Saint Louis University

Ernest Rugenstein, Hudson Valley Community College

Anne Ruszkiewicz, Sullivan County Community College

Wendy A. Sarti, Oakton Community College

Linda Scherr, Mercer County Community College

Elise Shelton, Trident Technical College

Chris Shepard, Trident Technical College

Robert Shipley, Widener University

Sherri Singer, Alamance Community College

Daniel Snell, University of Oklahoma

Steven Soper, The University of Georgia

Susan Souza-Mort, Bristol Community College

James Taw, Valdosta State University

Alfred T. Terrell, Yuba College

Timothy Thibodeau, Nazareth College

Karl Valois, University of Connecticut, Torrington

Liana Vardi, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Joseph Villano, Indian River State College

Gregory Vitarbo, Meredith College

David Weiland, Collin County Community College

Scott White, Scottsdale Community College

Pamela Wolfe, Yeshiva of Greater Washington

James Wright, Triton College

Sergei Zhuk, Ball State University

It is also a pleasure to thank the many editors who have assisted us over the years, first at Houghton Mifflin and now at Bedford/St. Martin’s. At Bedford/St. Martin’s, these include development editor Annette Fantasia; freelance development editors Michelle McSweeney and Dale Anderson; associate editor Jack Cashman and editorial assistant Emily DiPietro; executive editor Traci Mueller Crowell; director of development Jane Knetzger; publisher for history Mary Dougherty; photo researcher Carole Frohlich; text permissions editor Eve Lehmann; and Christina Horn, senior production editor, with the assistance of Elise Keller and the guidance of managing editor Michael Granger and assistant managing editor John Amburg. Other key contributors were designer Jonathon Nix, page makeup artist Cia Boynton, copy editor Jennifer Brett Greenstein, proofreaders Andrea Martin and Angela Morrison, indexer Leoni McVey, and cover designer Billy Boardman. We would also like to thank president Denise Wydra and copresident of Macmillan Higher Education Joan E. Feinberg.

Many of our colleagues at the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and Georgia State University continue to provide information and stimulation, often without even knowing it. We thank them for it. We also thank the many students over the years with whom we have used earlier editions of this book. Their reactions and opinions helped shape the revisions to this edition, and we hope it remains worthy of the ultimate praise that they bestowed on it: that it’s “not boring like most textbooks.” Merry Wiesner-Hanks would, as always, also like to thank her husband, Neil, without whom work on this project would not be possible. Clare Haru Crowston thanks her husband, Ali, and her children, Lili, Reza, and Kian, who are a joyous reminder of the vitality of life that we try to showcase in this book. Joe Perry thanks his colleagues and students at Georgia State for their intellectual stimulation and is grateful to Joyce de Vries for her unstinting support and encouragement.

Each of us has benefited from the criticism of our coauthors, although each of us assumes responsibility for what he or she has written. Merry Wiesner-Hanks has intensively reworked and revised John Buckler’s Chapters 1–6 and has revised Chapters 7–13; Clare Crowston has written and revised Chapters 14–19 and took responsibility for John McKay’s Chapter 20; and Joe Perry took responsibility for John McKay’s Chapters 21–24 and has written and revised Chapters 25–30.

We’d especially like to thank the founding authors, John P. McKay, Bennett D. Hill, and John Buckler, for their enduring contributions and for their faith in each of us to carry on their legacy.

Clare Haru Crowston

Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks

Joe Perry