The Modern World, Volume 2: Civilizations of Europe

The Modern World, Volume 2: Civilizations of Europe
By Sarolta, Ph.D. Takacs
Number Of Pages: 800 (set of 5 volumes)
Publication Date: 2008-12
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0765680963 (set of 5 volumes)
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780765680969 (set of 5 volumes)

Designed to meet the curriculum needs for students from grades 7 to 12, this five-volume encyclopedia explores world history from approximately 5000 C.E. to the present. Organized alphabetically within geographical volumes on Africa, Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Southwest Asia, and Asia and the Pacific, entries cover the social, political, scientific and technological, economic, and cultural events and developments that shaped the modern world.Each volume includes articles on history, government, and warfare; the development of ideas and the growth of art and architecture; religion and philosophy; music; science and technology; and daily life in the civilizations covered. Boxed features include "Turning Point," "Great Lives," "Into the Twenty-First Century," and "Modern Weapons". Maps, timelines, and illustrations illuminate the text, and a glossary, a selected bibliography, and an index in each volume round out the set.

Geographically, modern Europe, the westernmost region of the vast Eurasian landmass, includes more than forty countries, stretching from the Ural Mountains in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Culturally and politically, most historians and other social scientists use the term Europe to refer to the landmass west of the Ural Mountains. Using this traditional categorization, Europe is the world’s secondsmallest continent, covering 3.93 million square miles (10.18 million sq km), or about 2 percent of the earth’s surface.
The roots of the concept of nationalism—loyalty and pride for one’s nation—can be traced to Europe. Beginning in the 1300s, European monarchs worked to increase their own power by weakening the aging feudal system and diminishing the power of the nobility. Throughout Europe, monarchs supported the rise of towns and merchants, further lessening the authority of the upper classes.
The culture of Europe might be described as a series of overlapping cultures. The long and diverse history of the continent has created many cultural “fault lines” across the continent—West as opposed to East, Catholicism and Protestantism as opposed to Eastern Orthodoxy, Christianity as opposed to Islam. In addition, Europe is home to a diversity of intellectual and religious movements, often at odds with each other, such as Christianity and humanism.