Thoroughly revised and expanded, Sources for Western Society gathers a diverse array of primary sources from Western history that brings the past to life for students. Recognizing that history is shaped by the many as much as it is shaped by the few, Sources for Western Society includes the voices of men and women from across the social spectrum, each offering their own unique perspective on the events and developments of their times. Designed specifically to be used with all versions of A History of Western Society, Eleventh Edition, the collection mirrors and complements each chapter of the parent textbooks, encouraging students to place the viewpoints of individual authors and artists in the context of the changing world in which they lived.

With input from current instructors of the Western civilization survey course, these documents have been compiled with one goal foremost in mind: to make history’s most compelling voices accessible to students, from the most well-known thinkers of their times to the galvanized or introspective commoner. This emphasis on accessibility is crucial, since the reader is designed to challenge students to put aside their own preconceptions and to see history from the point of view of the people of the past. In Chapter 14, for example, students have the opportunity to look at the African slave trade from the perspective of an Italian trader writing in the mid-fifteenth century and an African king writing some seventy years later. Written from different perspectives and at different points in time, these documents help students to develop a nuanced, multi-sided picture of this seminal development in Western history.

To allow instructors flexibility in assigning individual sources while providing opportunities for students to focus on a document-based issue through analysis of multiple sources, each chapter provides a selection of individual documents that illuminate the variety of major developments and themes from the textbook, as well as a “Sources in Conversation” feature that allows students to examine an issue from multiple perspectives. Selections range widely in length to allow for a range of class assignments.

This companion reader steps back from drawing conclusions and instead provides just enough background to facilitate students’ own analyses of the sources at hand. Chapter introductions set the context of the documents that follow within the framework of the corresponding textbook chapter. A concise headnote for each document provides key information about the author and the circumstances surrounding the document’s creation, while helpful gloss notes aid comprehension of unfamiliar terms and references. Each document is followed by Reading Questions that promote understanding and critical analysis of the material, while chapter-concluding Comparative and Discussion Questions encourage students to contemplate the harmony and discord among the sources within and across the chapters.

New to This Edition

For the third edition of Sources, almost every aspect of the collection has been revised to include fresh and exciting sources that align with the new edition of the parent textbook and aid students’ interpretation of the evidence. More than fifty new documents—including several compelling images—have been added, broadening the scope of this edition and offering increased representation of women and minority perspectives. To name just a few, Chapter 9 now includes a Jewish account of the anti-Semitic violence that accompanied the Crusades, Chapter 12 features two paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi that offer insight into a young woman’s experience of gender and power in Renaissance Italy, and Chapter 30 provides a photograph of a Tunisian woman casting her vote in the elections that followed the series of uprisings during the Arab Spring. To help students better grasp the historical conditions in which the documents were produced, as well as key details in each selection, the chapter introductions, source headnotes, and questions have all been reworked and improved, providing the sources with a stronger contextual framework and highlighting the connections between them and the major themes of the textbook.

To the same end, one of the most significant changes in the new edition is the revision of the “Viewpoints” feature from the previous edition. Retitled “Sources in Conversation,” each feature now begins with a brief introduction that provides a contextual framework for students to analyze and synthesize a set of two or more documents touching on a central theme. As the feature’s title suggests, students are encouraged to find connections between the documents and to “join in the conversation” that the sources initiate about the nature and meaning of historical events and developments. In many cases, the features utilize brand-new sources. For example, “World War I in the Trenches and in the Air” in Chapter 25 focuses on two new photographs, one of an anonymous French soldier preparing for a gas attack and the other of Baron Manfred von Richthofen, offering students an opportunity to reflect on the implications of these conflicting images of individual combatants in the Great War. In other cases, the features build on documents included in the previous edition. For example, the feature entitled “Challenging the Prewar Social and Political Order” in Chapter 28 uses the writings of Frantz Fanon and Simone de Beauvoir to prompt students to explore the role of World War II in sparking both anticolonial activity and the postwar feminist movement. All “Sources in Conversation” features are designed to give students the tools they need to use multiple sources to build complex and nuanced pictures of the past.

Finally, new multiple-choice questions based on documents from each chapter of this sourcebook are available to users of the parent textbook’s interactive e-book. Perfect for homework assignments or as preparation for discussions, these auto-graded questions provide instant feedback and help students build document-analysis skills.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the instructors whose insightful comments and thoughtful suggestions helped shape the third edition: LeNie Adolphson, Sauk Valley Community College; Angela L. Ash, Owensboro Community and Technical College; Megan Boimann-Hennies, Highlands High School; David J. Chordas, Orange High School; Rebecca Favorito, The Ohio State University; David M. Gallo, College of Mount Saint Vincent; James Garcia, Centennial High School; Robert H. Greene, University of Montana; Justin Horton, Thomas Nelson Community College; Jodie A. Kreider, Colorado State University; Lisa Leff, American University; Kate Martin, Cape Cod Community College; Jennifer McNabb, Western Illinois University; Larry Myers, Butler Community College; Daniel Newman, Loyola Marymount University; Matthew Pehl, Augustana College; Judith Szapor, McGill University; George W. Whitton, State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome.

Special thanks go to John Reisbord for his excellent and substantive contributions to this reader. Many thanks also to development editor Annette Fantasia, editorial assistant Emily DiPietro, and publishing services manager Andrea Cava of Bedford/St. Martin’s, and to freelance development editor Danielle Slevens, Nancy Benjamin of Books By Design, Inc., and Laura Urling Moore of Creative Compliance.