Volume IV, The Age of Faith (1950), was another Leviathan, running to 1,196 pages, but it covered three civilizations -- Christian, Moslem and Judaic -- through a thousand years, from Constantine to Dante, A. D. 325 to 1321. It included some 200 pages on Mohammedan culture in its great days at Baghdad, Cairo and Cordova. Never before has a Christian scholar, in one volume on the Middle Ages, given such ample recognition to the achievements of Islam in government, literature, medicine, science and philosophy. And the three chapters on medieval Jewish life show a surprisingly sympathetic understanding of what might have seemed an alien culture.
What does history teach us? After a lifetime of research and reflection, the noted historians and authors share their profound and insightful interpretations of the most vital lessons history offers. To quote Will Durant, "The present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding."
The Reformation (The Story of Civilization VI)One third of the book lapses before a singal mention of Martin Luther is made, but this is certainly not a flaw, Durant just shows how calls to reform happened centuries before him. Most histories simply focus on Luther, Calvin, and Henry the 8th, and fail to cover the whole age of the Reformation. This is not the case here. Durant begins with the condition of the Roman Catholic Church during the Papal Schism, moves to Wycliffe, shifts to Huss, and merges them with Zwingli, Luther,etc.
The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time by Will Durant
This engaging, accessible book of essays from Pulitzer Prize-winning philosopher and historian Durant, author of the authoritative 11-volume Story of Civilization, should be essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of thought. Little, the founder and director of The Will Durant Foundation, includes in his slim compendium such works as "The One Hundred 'Best' Books For an Education" and "Twelve Vital Dates in World History." Durant's "The Ten 'Greatest' Thinkers" details minds as enlightening as Confucius and as influential as Darwin, whom Durant says "reduced man to an animal fighting for his transient mastery of the globe." "The Ten 'Greatest' Poets," charts a course from Homer's brilliance to Dante's haunted heart to Whitman's "frank and lusty" originality, in prose peppered with biographical bon mots and excerpts of the world's loveliest poems. Lay folks especially will find this a delightful introduction to Durant's irrepressible style. What else would one expect from Durant, an intellect who, when asked, "Whom in all of history would you most like to have known?" drolly replied, "Madame de Pompadour."
Will Durant - The Story of Civilization 11 - The Age of Napoleon 11th in the Civilization series - The volatile age of Napoleon, from the French Revolution to the Industrial Revolution. XI. The Age of Napoleon (1975) 1. The French Revolution: 1789-99 2. Napoleon Ascendant: 1799-1811 3. Britain: 1789-1812 4. The Challenged Kings: 1789-1812 5. Finale: 1811-1815
