ABSTRACT
This is a book about Western civilization and how to fit it into thinking about world history. During the past 15 years American educators, and sometimes the general public, have been treated to vigorous debates about the merits of teaching Western civ versus those involved in the newer subject of world history. The debates continue today, as we will briefly detail below. Typically, they proceed in an either-or fashion: one must either be devoted to the special virtues of Western civilization or one must embrace the world history vision, and there is not much in between. Correspondingly, we lack materials that would help students in a Western civ class think about a world history framework, or those in world history to spend just a moment on issues specific to Western civ. This book seeks to provide this kind of intermediary, by suggesting the kind of analysis essential to thinking about Western civilization in a world history context.
