Brian A. Pavlac is professor of history at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he has served as chair of the department and a Herve A. LeBlanc Distinguished Service Professor. He is the author of Witch Hunts in the Western World: Persecution and Punishment from the Inquisition to the Salem Trials; coauthor with Elizabeth S. Lott of The Holy Roman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia; translator of A Warrior Bishop of the 12th Century: The Deeds of Albero of Trier, by Balderich; and editor of Game of Thrones versus History: Written in Blood.

List of Diagrams, Figures, Maps, Primary Source Projects, Sources on Families, Tables, and Timelines

Acknowledgments

How to Use This Book

1. History's Story
There's Method
What Is Truth?
Primary Source Project 1: Thucydides versus von Ranke about the Aim of History

2. Wanderers and Settlers: The Ancient Middle East to 400 BC
The Apes' Cousins
Bound to the Soil
The Price of Civilization
Sources on Families: Law Code of Hammurabi
The Rise and Fall of Practically All Middle Eastern Empires
Primary Source Project 2: Xenophon versus Herodotus about Reputation

3. The Chosen People: Hebrews and Jews, 2000 BC to AD 135
Between and under Empires
Primary Source Project 3: Sennacherib's Annalist versus Chronicles Writer about Divine Favor
Bound by Law
Sources on Family: Deuteronomy

4. Trial of the Hellenes: The Ancient Greeks, 1200 BC to AD 146
To the Sea
The Political Animal
Metamorphosis
Primary Source Project 4: Athenians versus Melians about the Rules of War
The Cultural Conquest
Sources on Families: Plato, The Republic

5. Imperium Romanum: The Romans, 753 BC to AD 300
World Conquest in Self-Defense
The Price of Power
The Absolutist Solution
Primary Source Project 5: Galgacus versus Agricola about Motivations for Battle
The Roads to Knowledge
Sources on Families: Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Augustus

6. The Revolutionary Rabbi: Christianity, the Roman Empire, and Islam, 4 BC to AD 1453
The Son of Man
Sources on Families: Paul, First Epistle to Timothy
The Cultural War
Primary Source Project 6: Paul versus Pliny and Trajan about the Value of Christianity
Roma Delenda Est
Struggle for the Realm of Submission

7. From Old Rome to the New West: The Early Middle Ages, AD 500 to 1000
Goths in the Garden
Primary Source Project 7: Bad Bishops versus Benedict about Moral Rules
Sources on Families: Tacitus, Germania
Charles in Charge
The Cavalry to the Rescue

8. The Medieval Me¿le¿e: The High and Later Middle Ages, 1000 to 1500
Return of the Kings
Discipline and Domination
Sources on Families: Jacobus de Voragine, "The Life of Saint Elizabeth"
Plenty of Papal Power
Primary Source Project 8: Gregory VII versus Henry IV about Church versus State
The Age of Faith and Reason
A New Estate
Not the End of the World

9. Making the Modern World: The Renaissance and Reformation, 1400 to 1648 211
The Purse of Princes
Man as the Measure
Primary Source Project 9: Witch Hunter versus Confessor about Belief in Witches
Heaven Knows
Sources on Families: Martin Luther, Table Talk
Fatal Beliefs
God, Greed, and Glory

10. Liberation of Mind and Body: Early Modern Europe, 1543 to 1815
Lost in the Stars
From the Salons to the Streets
Sources on Families: Jean-Jacques Rousseau,E¿mile, or On Education
The State Is He (or She)
(Prosperous) People Power
The Declaration of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity
Primary Source Project 10: Declaration of the Rights of Man versus Declaration of the Rights of Woman about Human Rights
Blood and Empires

11. Mastery of the Machine: The Industrial Revolution, 1764 to 1914
Facts of Factories
Life in the Jungle
Sources on Families: George Sand on the End of Her Marriage
Cleaning Up the Mess
For the Workers
Primary Source Project 11: Smiles versus Owen about the Good Life
The Machinery of Nature

12. The Westerner's Burden: Imperialism and Nationalism, 1810 to 1918
"New and Improved" Imperialism
From Sea to Shining Sea
Nationalism's Curse
Sources on Families: Ethel Howard, Potsdam Princes
The Balkan Cauldron
The Great War
Primary Source Project 12: "In Flanders Fields" versus "Dulce et Decorum Est" about Death in War

13. Rejections of Democracy: The Interwar Years and World War II, 1917 to 1945
Decline of the West?
Russians in Revolt
Losing Their Grip
Fascist Fury
Hitler's Hatreds
Sources on Families: Joseph Goebbels, "German Womanhood"
The Roads to Global War
Primary Source Project 13: Hitler versus Franklin D. Roosevelt about the Just Society

14. A World Divided: The Early Cold War, 1945 to 1980
From Friends to Foes
Primary Source Project 14: Khrushchev versus Nixon about Competition
Making Money
Sources on Families: Shirley Chisholm, Speech on Equal Rights
To the Brink, Again and Again
Letting Go and Holding On
American Hegemon
The Uneasy Understanding

15. Into the Future: The Contemporary Era, 1980 to the Present
The Walls Come Down
Searching for Stability
Different Folks
Haves and Cannots
Sources on Families: Supreme Court of the United States, Obergefell v. Hodges
Values of Violence
The Walls Go Up Again
Primary Source Project 15: The European Central Bank versus the National Front about the EU

Epilogue: Why Western Civilization?

Timelines

Common Abbreviations

Glossary

Index

About the Author