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Western Civilization I

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    490116

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    This textbook follows the contours of the basic Western Civilization narrative in terms of chronology and, to an extent, geography because it was written to be compatible with most Western Civilization courses as they exist today. It deliberately breaks, however, from the “triumphalist” narrative that describes Western Civilization as the most successful, rational, and enlightened form of civilization in human history. It casts a wider geographical view than do traditional Western Civilization textbooks, focusing in many cases on the critical historical role of the Middle East, not just Europe. It also abandons the pretense that the history of Western Civilization was generally progressive, with the conditions of life and understanding of the natural world of most people improving over time (as a matter of fact, they did not).

    Thumbnail: Florence views. (Unsplash License; Herr Bohn via Unsplash)

    This page titled Western Civilization I was last modified on Sun, 04 Oct 2026 05:56:45 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Erin Stone via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.