The Story of Civilization by Durant

Is it worth reading? Or is there a better option?

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  1. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    It is worth reading. Will you prefer another, I don’t know.

  2. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I love Durant, but I would recommend skipping the first volume, Our Oriental Heritage, or at least giving it a skim before you commit, because it's more anthropological than historical. At least for the earlier parts of the book. By necessity I imagine, because we know so little about Bronze Age civilizations except from archaeology and comparative anthropological reconstructions. To me where Durant really shines is in making a more historically documented period come alive. I started with his Renaissance volume but you could probably start anywhere.

    These threads always draw people who want you to read ONLY articles published in the last 3 years to learn about a topic but Durant is just fine if you want to learn who was the king of France during the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy or what the Babylonian Captivity was.

  3. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Depends on your goals. For a good and thorough treatment of the topic, you can do better, but it will give you the gist. I prefer the Penguin History of the World, it has a better sense of scope giving a solid overview and decent references for filling in the details. Durrant had no sense of scope.

  4. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Not really. Durant is a good writer, but he's far less competent as a historian - and histography has moved along quite a bit since this was written.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      This is the Reddit answer. Ignore this soulless gay and read Durant. muh historiography. Frick outta here with that gay shit

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Academics will always fling shit at older works or else who the frick will read their new work right

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          You can feel the decline in academia just looking at the publication dates. It depends wildly by discipline of course, and there were errors that were considered settled and obvious. I'm probably less bothered by stupid stuff that isn't currently memed.
          Openly trashing or taking a condescendent attitude towards older scholarship is also specific to humanities. My fellow stemlords rarely have the curiosity for it, but the chronological snobbery isn't as developed.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          You’re supposed to build on what others before you made.
          Shitting on older works is just a cope to cover the fact that your writing has nothing solid to stand on.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Durant was never a good historian. Not even in his time. Read Carlyle, Toynbee, or Macaulay. Durant just doesn't offer substance or style. He offers Simplistic, accessible platitudes

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >and histography has moved along quite a bit since this was written.
      fricking have a nice day

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Yeah, it's moved on to examining your pussy

  5. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >The Complete Story of Civilization
    I avoid anything with a title like that because I know it will be filled with only two pages dedicated to centuries or millennia of history that I actually care about, you can already tell what you're getting when you look at that cover.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      It's an 11 volume set you fricking troglodyte
      >the actual state of IQfy

  6. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    If you want what the title actually promises, it's useless. If, however, you're looking for an engagingly written overview of Western civilisation it's not a bad read.

  7. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Read Toynbee instead.

  8. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Eurocentric nonsense
    Skipped

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      fed post

  9. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    If you haven’t already learned all the most important contents of these booms effortlessly by just existing in the west in the 21st century then you don’t have the knowledge gene

  10. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I enjoyed it a lot. I've studied Classics and even I found his volumes on Greece and Rome quite good. His a great writer.

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