Look Inside Look Inside A History of Western Society, Volume 1 by Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks; Clare Haru Crowston; Joe Perry; John P. McKay - Thirteenth Edition, 2020 from Macmillan Student Store
View Demo

A History of Western Society, Volume 1

From Antiquity to the EnlightenmentThirteenth Edition ©2020 Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks; Clare Haru Crowston; Joe Perry; John P. McKay

Praised by instructors and students alike for its readability and attention to everyday life, the thirteenth edition of A History of Western Society includes a greater variety of tools to engage today's students and save instructors time. This edition features an enhanced primary source pr...

Read more
Students - Buy or Rent

ISBN:9781319112578

ISBN:9781319109561

ISBN:9781319353391

ISBN:9781319340094

ISBN:9781319339067

Look Inside Look Inside A History of Western Society, Volume 1 by Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks; Clare Haru Crowston; Joe Perry; John P. McKay - Thirteenth Edition, 2020 from Macmillan Student Store

Bring the history of western society to life

Praised by instructors and students alike for its readability and attention to everyday life, the thirteenth edition of A History of Western Society includes a greater variety of tools to engage today's students and save instructors time. This edition features an enhanced primary source program, a question-driven narrative, five chapters devoted to the lives of ordinary people that make the past real and relevant, and the best and latest scholarship throughout.

Available for free when packaged with the print book, the popular digital assignment options for this text bring skill building and assessment to a highly effective level. The active learning options come in LaunchPad , which combines an accessible e-book with LearningCurve, an adaptive and automatically graded learning tool that—when assigned—helps ensure students read the book; the complete companion reader with quizzes on each source; and many other study and assessment tools. For instructors who want the easiest and most affordable way to ensure students come to class prepared, Achieve Read & Practice pairs LearningCurve adaptive quizzing and our mobile, accessible Value Edition e-book, in one easy-to-use product.

Features

The signature focus on social and cultural history and a readable, accessible narrative humanizes and enlivens the past. A History of Western Society's emphasis on daily life— from food and medicine to fashion and popular culture—helps students relate to the past and aids their understanding of the broader landscape of Western civilization. "Individuals in Society" biographical portraits highlight the lives of both elite and common people, while five special "Life" chapters emphasize daily life in specific time periods.

A wealth of primary sources and special features introduce students to historical interpretation. With 90 written and visual primary sources included in the document features "Evaluating Visual Evidence," "Evaluating Written Evidence," and "Viewpoints," students connect to the past through an array of evidence and questions that guide interpretation of the material. In addition, Sources for Western Society, the companion reader, offers at least five additional primary documents per chapter.

A rich pedagogical framework encourages students’ curiosity and builds historical thinking skills. To help students find the most important points conveyed in each chapter, section heading questions now drive the narrative and replace traditional section titles. To foster chronological reasoning skills, new visual timelines appear at the start of each chapter. Marginal key term definitions help students keep the main ideas and terms in mind as they read, "Mapping the Past" activities promote geographic literacy, "Looking Back, Looking Ahead" conclusions review the bigger picture and introduce students to continuity and change, and "Make Connections" questions encourage students to think comparatively within and across chapters.

The most current scholarship shows students the dynamic and ongoing work of history. Drawing on their own research and that of numerous experts, renowned scholars and veteran teachers Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, Clare Haru Crowston, and Joe Perry have incorporated the best and latest scholarship throughout.

LaunchPad helps you do more than you can with print alone. Free when packaged with the book, LaunchPad's course space and interactive e-book is ready to use as is, or can be edited and customized with your own material and assigned right away. Developed with extensive feedback from history instructors and students, LaunchPad includes the complete narrative e-book, as well as abundant primary documents, maps, images, assignments, and activities. The aims of key learning outcomes are addressed via formative and summative assessment, short answer and essay questions, multiple choice quizzing, and LearningCurve , an adaptive learning tool designed to get students to read before they come to class. Available with training and support, LaunchPad can help you take your teaching to a new level.

LearningCurve ensures students come to class prepared. Tired of your students not reading the textbook? Would you like to know what they read and how much they understood—BEFORE they come to class? Assign LearningCurve, the adaptive learning tool created for your survey textbook in LaunchPad's, and the system’s analytics will show how your students are doing with the reading so that you can adapt your class as needed. Each chapter-based LearningCurve activity gives students multiple chances to understand key concepts, return to the narrative textbook if they need to reread, and answer questions correctly. Over 90% of students report satisfaction with LearningCurve’s fun and accessible game-like interface. LearningCurve e appeals to students so that they engage with the textbook, and it helps you to know what they know before class begins.

A range of options offers convenience and value. In addition to the comprehensive textbook with a full suite of primary source features and this conveniently smaller and lower-priced Concise edition with select features, it is also available in an inexpensive Value edition — a two-color version with the unabridged narrative and select art and maps, which also comes in a steeply-discounted loose-leaf format. Other lower-priced options include: e-books for all book formats; an interactive e-book format in the complete text’s dedicated version of LaunchPad, with LearningCurve adaptive quizzing and fully integrated study resources; and, for the most affordable and easiest-to-use e-book option, Achieve Read & Practice, with the mobile and accessible Value edition e-book and the adaptive quizzing of LearningCurve.

New to This Edition

New Question-Driven Narrative with Visual Timelines Sparks Students’ Curiosity about What Happened and Why. To help students find the most important points conveyed in each chapter, section heading questions now drive the narrative and replace traditional section titles. To foster chronological reasoning skills, new visual timelines, which display the relationship among events, appear at the start of each chapter.

New paired primary source feature "Viewpoints" provide fresh ways to compare substantial written or visual sources. Selected for their interest, these sources promote critical thinking and analysis skills. One "Viewpoints" feature in each chapter provides two views on topics such as "Greek Playwrights on Families, Fate, and Choice"; "Roman and Byzantine Views of Barbarians"; "Italian and English Views of the Plague"; "Rousseau and Wollstonecraft Debate Women’s Equality"; "Contrasting Visions of the Sans-Culottes"; "The White Man’s Versus the Brown Man’s Burden"; and "Cold War Propaganda."

New "Evaluating Visual Evidence" and "Evaluating Written Evidence" features provide practice working with substantial sources. Selected for their interest and carefully integrated into their historical context, these individual sources (one per chapter alternating between visual and written sources) provide students with firsthand encounters with people of the past and provide the means and tools for evaluating context, perspective, and causation. Headnotes and questions help students understand the source and connect it to the information in the rest of the chapter. With twenty-four written and visual sources new to this edition, students can evaluate evidence such as "Homer’s Iliad"; "Charlemagne and His Second Wife Hildegard"; "Depictions of Africans in European Portraiture"; "Hogarth’s Satirical View of the Church"; and more.

New "Individuals in Society" topics further the human story. New biographical essays include "King Taharqa of Kush and Egypt"; "Abelard and Heloise"; "Catarina de San Juan"; "Mary Shelley"; and "Sigmund Freud."

Narrative updates incorporate the latest scholarship. Revisions to the thirteenth edition include updated coverage of the domestication of plants and animals in Chapter 1; an expanded discussion of Kush and Assyria in Chapter 2; more analysis and attention to causation in sections on epics, warfare between city-states, gender, and philosophers in Chapter 3; and more analysis of Alexander the Great’s legacy, Hellenistic commerce, mystery religions, and science in Chapter 4. Chapters 5 and 6 have been substantially revised to reflect a wealth of recent scholarship. Chapter 5 now emphasizes that Rome’s greatest achievement and basis for its success was its ability to incorporate conquered peoples as Roman citizens, an insight historians of Rome have increasingly stressed in the last several decades. Chapter 5 also devotes more attention to how the Roman army was organized and how conquered land was distributed. This chapter offers more analysis of the sources for Roman history; adds a discussion of aristocratic snobbery and attitudes toward "new men"; expands coverage of the patron-client system; de-emphasizes the role of Cato in the Third Punic War; presents an entirely new view of activity in the countryside in the late republic; broadens the analysis of patterns in Roman expansion and political challenges; provides new coverage of the Marian military reforms and the Catiline conspiracy; and supplies a revised discussion of the populares and optimates. Substantial changes in Chapter 6 reflect new scholarship as well. It emphasizes the continuing role of the Senate and other Roman elites in running the empire and adds more coverage of the auxiliary forces provided by Rome’s allies, cultural blending in the provinces, and the diverse nature of early Christianity. Chapter 8 offers revised coverage of Muslims in Europe as well as Carolingian royal politics. Coverage of the Black Death in Chapter 11 has been updated to reflect recent research, including exciting insights that have come from science. Chapter 14 contains more about Portuguese exploration and settlement; new discussion of the role of Islam in the Indian Ocean world; an updated account of the Spanish conquest; and revised coverage of European ideas about race. Chapter 16 contains an updated discussion of Muslim and Arab scientific scholarship and of how patterns of education, trade, and patronage led the Scientific Revolution to take place in Europe rather elsewhere in the world. Chapter 17 includes information about important changes in financial systems and in thinking about governmental regulation of the economy, as well as an expanded section about Adam Smith and the emergence of the discipline of "political economy" in this period. Chapter 18 supplies new material on contraception methods in the eighteenth century and on attitudes toward miscarriage and abortion. Chapter 21 includes expanded coverage of Utopian socialism, Tories and Whigs, the Peterloo Massacre, and the Irish famine. The reorganization of Chapters 22 and 23 made room for new and expanded coverage. Chapter 22 supplies a new and updated discussion of middle-class professionalization, an expanded discussion of the advent of the public health movement in London, and additional information about religion among the working classes. Chapter 23 includes more about the costs and benefits for ordinary people of the newly established responsive national states; new coverage of Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War; and new material and updated scholarship on Louis Napoleon and the Second Empire, the emergence of the British Liberal Party, Karl Lueger and anti-Semitism in Vienna, and pogroms in the Pale of Settlement. A new section in Chapter 24 offers extended material about the immigrant experience in the United States. It also includes an expanded discussion of King Leopold’s Congo Free State and updated material on British intervention in Egypt before World War I, Asian immigration and passport controls, the Berlin Conference, and German colonial war. Chapter 25 includes new material and updated scholarship on Wilhelm II’s character, the First and Second Moroccan Crises, and Austro-Hungarian occupation of Serbia. Chapter 26 adds material to explain the changes associated with the consolidation of modernism and modernity in the decades around 1900. Chapter 30 includes updates and new information about populism, Russian interference in U.S. elections, the politics of Internet privacy, and American relations with the European Union under the Trump administration.

Achieve Read & Practice puts the most affordable and easy-to-use e-book with built-in assessment into student hands, wherever they go. Available for the first time with this edition, Achieve Read & Practice’s interactive Value Edition e-book, adaptive quizzing, and grade-book is built with an intuitive interface that can be read on mobile devices, and is fully accessible and available at a discounted price so anyone can use it. It comes pre-loaded with LearningCurve　adaptive quizzing, which, when assigned, ensures students come to class prepared. Instructors can set due dates for reading assignments and LearningCurve quizzes in just a few clicks, making it an effective option for a simple and affordable way to engage students with the narrative.

"This is a beautiful and comprehensive work. The social history is great and our students can relate easily to this narrative. The included primary sources are very good and can be easily integrated into classroom discussions and assignments. I encourage students to hang on to the book long past the completion of the course as we can only scratch the surface of what it has to offer."

—Gesche Peters, Dawson College

"This refreshing textbook is filled with current research and a variety of primary sources. I am especially impressed with the plentiful inclusion of material culture and the way it engages students’ curiosity about how people lived in the past."

—Sherry H. Turille, Cape Fear Community College

"This is an excellent introductory text for Western Civilization courses. It is easy to read and the supplementary features make history come alive and help students see the importance of studying history."

—Tim Myers, Butler County Community College

"This is an excellent textbook that makes complex historical narratives and debates accessible and relevant to students. It includes important information on social and cultural transformations and places western history in a global context at important points."

—Rita Krueger, Temple University

"This text is highly readable, well organized, and provides clear thematic goals. It pairs effectively with the reader, and together they allow students to examine a wide range of approaches, ideas, and historical skills."

—Jennifer L. Foray, Purdue University

"With a strong emphasis on gender relations and economic, intellectual, and social history, A History of Western Society helps students to understand the main features of western civilization. The inclusion of a vast array of primary sources and assignments will be most helpful to any instructor."

—John F. Lyons, Joliet Junior College

"This comprehensive introductory text is visually appealing and well structured. It contains a myriad of options to choose from when focusing on a specific topic with the students."

—Sheila Redmond, Algoma University

Digital Options

LAUNCHPAD_FULL icon

LaunchPad

Get the e-book, do assignments, take quizzes, prepare for exams and more, to help you achieve success in class.

Learn About LaunchPad Schedule LaunchPad Demo

REEF icon

iClicker Student

Stay engaged in class with our student response system, show your instructor that you're listening and prove what you know.

Learn About iClicker Student Schedule iClicker Student Demo

EPUB3_EBOOK icon

E-book

Read online (or offline) with all the highlighting and notetaking tools you need to be successful in this course.

Learn About E-book

Table of Contents

The Combined Volume includes all chapters.　

Volume 1 includes Chapters 1-16.　

Volume 2 includes Chapters 14-30.

Since 1300 includes Chapters 11-30.

 

1 Origins To 1200 B.C.E.

What do we mean by "the West" and "Western civilization"?   

Describing the West 

What Is Civilization?

How did early human societies create new technologies and cultural forms?  

From the First Hominids to the Paleolithic Era

Domestication

Implications of Agriculture

Trade and Cross-Cultural Connections

What kind of civilization did the Sumerians build in Mesopotamia?  

Environment and Mesopotamian Development

The Invention of Writing and the First Schools

Religion in Mesopotamia

Sumerian Politics and Society

How did the Akkadian and Old Babylonian empires develop in Mesopotamia?

The Akkadians and the Babylonians

Life Under Hammurabi

Cultural Exchange in the Fertile Crescent

How did the Egyptians establish a prosperous and long-​lasting society?  

The Nile and the God-King

Egyptian Religion

Egyptian Society and Work

Egyptian Family Life

The Hyksos and New Kingdom Revival

Conflict and Cooperation with the Hittites

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD  

REVIEW & EXPLORE

Evaluating Visual Evidence Paleolithic Venus Figures  

Thinking Like a Historian Addressing the Gods   

Evaluating Written Evidence Hammurabi’s Code on Marriage and Divorce Viewpoints Faulty Merchandise in Babylon and Egypt

Individuals in Society Hatshepsut and Nefertiti  

 

2 Small Kingdoms and Mighty Empires in the Near East 1200–510 B.C.E.

How did iron technology shape new states after 1200 B.C.E.?  

Iron Technology

The Decline of Egypt and the Emergence of Kush 

The Rise of Phoenicia

How did the Hebrews create an enduring religious tradition?  

The Hebrew State

The Jewish Religion

Hebrew Family and Society  

How did the Assyrians and Neo-Babylonians gain and lose power?  

Assyria’s Long Road to Power 

Assyrian Rule and Culture 

The Neo-Babylonian Empire  

How did the Persians conquer and rule their extensive empire?  

Consolidation of the Persian Empire 

Persian Religion 

Persian Art and Culture

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD 

REVIEW & EXPLORE

Individuals in Society   King Taharqa of Kush and Egypt

Thinking Like a Historian The Moral Life  

Viewpoints Rulers and Divine Favor: Views of Cyrus the Great

Evaluating Written Evidence A Jewish Family Contract

Evaluating Visual Evidence Assyrians Besiege a City

 

3 The Development of Greek Society and Culture ca. 3000–338 B.C.E.

How did the geography of Greece shape its earliest kingdoms?  

Geography and Settlement

The Minoans

The Mycenaeans

Homer, Hesiod, and the Epic

What was the role of the polis in Greek society?  

Organization of the Polis

Governing Structures

Overseas Expansion

The Growth of Sparta

The Evolution of Athens

How did the wars of the classical period shape Greek history?  

The Persian Wars

Growth of the Athenian Empire

The Peloponnesian War

The Struggle for Dominance

Philip II and Macedonian Supremacy

What ancient Greek ideas and ideals have had a lasting influence?  

Athenian Arts in the Age of Pericles

Households and Work

Gender and Sexuality

Public and Personal Religion

The Flowering of Philosophy  

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD

REVIEW & EXPLORE

Evaluating Written Evidence Homer’s Iliad

Evaluating Visual Evidence The Acropolis of Athens

Viewpoints Greek Playwrights on Families, Fate, and Choice

Individuals in Society Aristophanes

Thinking Like a Historian Gender Roles in Classical Athens  

 

4 Life in the Hellenistic World 336–30 B.C.E.

How and why did Alexander the Great create an empire, and how did it evolve?

Military Campaigns

The Political Legacy

How did Greek ideas and traditions spread to create a Hellenized society? 

Urban Life

Greeks in Hellenistic Cities

Greeks and Non-Greeks  

What characterized the Hellenistic economy?   

Rural Life

Production of Goods

Commerce

How did religion, philosophy, and the arts reflect and shape Hellenistic life?  

Religion and Magic

Hellenism and the Jews

Philosophy and the People

Art and Drama

How did science and medicine serve the needs of Hellenistic society?

Science

Medicine

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD    

REVIEW & EXPLORE

Viewpoints Greek Historians on Alexander the Great

Evaluating Visual Evidence  Bactrian Disk with Religious Figures

Evaluating Written Evidence A Hellenistic Spell of Attraction

Individuals in Society Archimedes, Scientist and Inventor

Thinking Like a Historian Hellenistic Medicine

 

5 The Rise of Rome ca. 1000–27 B.C.E.

How did the Romans become the dominant power in Italy? 

The Geography of Italy

The Etruscans

The Founding of Rome

The Roman Conquest of Italy  

What were the key institutions of the Roman Republic?  

The Roman State

Social Conflict in Rome

How did the Romans build a Mediterranean empire?  

The Punic Wars

Rome Turns East

How did expansion affect Roman society and culture?  

Roman Families

New Social Customs and Greek Influence

Opposing Views: Cato the Elder and Scipio Aemilianus

What led to the fall of the Roman Republic?  

The Countryside and Land Reforms

Political Violence

Civil War and the Rise of Julius Caesar  

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD  

REVIEW & EXPLORE

Evaluating Visual Evidence The Temple of Hercules Victor

Viewpoints Praise of Good Women in the Eulogy for Murdia and the Turia Inscription

Thinking Like a Historian  Land Ownership and Social Conflict in the Late Republic

Evaluating Written Evidence Cicero and the Plot to Kill Caesar

Individuals in Society Queen Cleopatra

 

6 The Roman Empire 27 B.C.E.–284 C.E.

How did Augustus and Roman elites create a foundation for the Roman Empire?  

Augustus and His Allies

Roman Expansion

Latin Literature

Marriage and Morality  

How did the Roman state develop after Augustus?

The Julio-Claudians and the Flavians

The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty

What was life like in the city of Rome and in the provinces?

Life in Imperial Rome

Approaches to Urban Problems

Popular Entertainment

Prosperity in the Roman Provinces

Trade and Commerce

How did Christianity grow into a major religious movement?

Factors Behind the Rise of Christianity

The Life and Teachings of Jesus

The Spread of Christianity

The Growing Acceptance and Evolution of Christianity

What political and economic problems did Rome face in the third century c.e.?   

Civil Wars and Military Commanders

Turmoil in Economic Life

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD  

REVIEW & EXPLORE

Thinking Like a Historian Army and Empire

Evaluating Visual Evidence Ara Pacis Augustae

Viewpoints The Pax Romana

Evaluating Written Evidence Ovid, The Art of Love

Individuals in Society Pliny the Elder

 

7 Late Antiquity 250–600

How did Diocletian and Constantine try to reform the empire?  

Political Measures

Economic Issues

The Acceptance of Christianity

How did the Christian Church become a major force in the Mediterranean and Europe?   

The Church and Its Leaders

The Development of Christian Monasticism

Monastery Life

Christianity and Classical Culture

Christian Notions of Gender and Sexuality

Saint Augustine on Human Nature, Will, and Sin

What were the key characteristics of barbarian society?  

Village and Family Life

Tribes and Hierarchies

Customary and Written Law

Celtic and Germanic Religion

How did the barbarian migrations shape Europe?  

Celtic and Germanic People in Gaul and Britain

Visigoths and Huns

Germanic Kingdoms and the End of the Roman Empire  

How did the church convert barbarian peoples to Christianity?  

Missionaries’ Actions

The Process of Conversion  

How did the Byzantine Empire preserve the legacy of Rome?  

Sources of Byzantine Strength

The Law Code of Justinian

Byzantine Learning and Science

The Orthodox Church

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD  

REVIEW & EXPLORE

Viewpoints Roman and Byzantine Views of Barbarians

Thinking Like a Historian Slavery in Roman and Germanic Society

Evaluating Visual Evidence  Battle Between Romans and Goths

Evaluating Written Evidence  Gregory of Tours on the Veneration of Relics

Individuals in Society Theodora of Constantinople

 

8 Europe in the Early Middle Ages 600–1000

What were the origins of Islam, and what impact did it have on Europe as it spread?  

The Culture of the Arabian Peninsula

The Prophet Muhammad

The Teachings and Expansion of Islam

Sunni and Shi’a Divisions

Life in Muslim Spain

Muslim-Christian Relations

Cross-Cultural Influences in Science and Medicine

How did the Franks build and govern a European empire?

The Merovingians

The Rise of the Carolingians

The Warrior-Ruler Charlemagne

Carolingian Government and Society

The Imperial Coronation of Charlemagne  

What were the significant intellectual and cultural developments in Charlemagne’s era?  

The Carolingian Renaissance

Northumbrian Learning and Writing

How did the ninth-century invasions and migrations shape Europe?   

Vikings in Western Europe

Slavs and Vikings in Eastern Europe

Magyars and Muslims

How and why did Europe become politically and economically decentralized in this period?  

Decentralization and the Origins of "Feudalism"

Manorialism, Serfdom, and the Slave Trade

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD 

REVIEW & EXPLORE  

Viewpoints The Muslim Conquest of Spain

Evaluating Visual Evidence  Charlemagne and His Second Wife Hildegard

Individuals in Society The Venerable Bede

Evaluating Written Evidence The Death of Beowulf

Thinking Like a Historian Vikings Tell Their Own Story

 

9 State and Church in the High Middle Ages 1000–1300

How did monarchs try to centralize political power? 

England

France

Central Europe

Italy

The Iberian Peninsula

How did the administration of law evolve in this period?  

Local Laws and Royal Courts

The Magna Carta

Law in Everyday Life

What were the political and social roles of nobles?  

Origins and Status of the Nobility

Training, Marriage, and Inheritance

Power and Responsibility

How did the papacy reform the church, and what were the reactions to these efforts?  

The Gregorian Reforms

Emperor Versus Pope

Criticism and Heresy

The Popes and Church Law

What roles did monks, nuns, and friars play in medieval society?  

Monastic Revival

Life in Convents and Monasteries

The Friars

What were the causes, course, and consequences of the Crusades and the broader expansion of Christianity?  

Background and Motives of the Crusades

The Course of the Crusades

Consequences of the Crusades

The Expansion of Christianity

Christendom

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD  

REVIEW & EXPLORE  

Viewpoints Oaths of Fealty

Evaluating Visual Evidence Saint Maurice, Ideal Knight

Evaluating Written Evidence Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam

Individuals in Society Hildegard of Bingen

Thinking Like a Historian Christian and Muslim Views of the Crusades  

 

10 Life in Villages and Cities of the High Middle Ages 1000–1300

What was village life like in medieval Europe?  

Slavery, Serfdom, and Upward Mobility

The Manor

Work

Home Life

Childbirth and Childhood

How did religion shape everyday life in the High Middle Ages?  

Christian Life in Medieval Villages

Saints and Sacraments

Muslims and Jews

Rituals of Marriage and Birth

Death and the Afterlife

What led to Europe’s economic growth and reurbanization?  

The Rise of Towns

Merchant and Craft Guilds

The Revival of Long-Distance Trade

Business Procedures

The Commercial Revolution

What was life like in medieval cities?  

City Life

Servants and the Poor

Popular Entertainment

How did universities serve the needs of medieval society?  

Origins

Legal and Medical Training

Theology and Philosophy

University Students  

How did literature and architecture express medieval values?  

Vernacular Literature and Drama

Churches and Cathedrals

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD  

REVIEW & EXPLORE  

Thinking Like a Historian Social and Economic Relations in Medieval English Villages

Evaluating Written Evidence Apprenticeship Contract for a Money-Changer

Evaluating Visual Evidence  Healthy Living

Individuals in Society Abelard and Heloise

Viewpoints Male and Female Troubadours

 

11 The Later Middle Ages 1300–1450

How did climate change shape the late Middle Ages?  

Climate Change and Famine

Social Consequences

How did the plague affect European society?  

Pathology

Spread of the Disease

Care of the Sick

Economic, Religious, and Cultural Effects  

What were the causes, course, and consequences of the Hundred Years’ War?  

Causes

English Successes

Joan of Arc and France’s Victory

Aftermath  

Why did the church come under increasing criticism?  

The Babylonian Captivity and Great Schism

Critiques, Divisions, and Councils

Lay Piety and Mysticism

What explains the social unrest of the late Middle Ages?  

Peasant Revolts

Urban Conflicts

Sex in the City

Fur-Collar Crime

Ethnic Tensions and Restrictions

Literacy and Vernacular Literature

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD

REVIEW & EXPLORE

Viewpoints Italian and English Views of the Plague

Evaluating Visual Evidence Dance of Death

Evaluating Written Evidence  The Trial of Joan of Arc

Individuals in Society Meister Eckhart  

Thinking Like a Historian Popular Revolts in the Late Middle Ages

 

12 European Society in the Age of the Renaissance 1350–1550

How did political and economic developments in Italy shape the Renaissance?  

Trade and Prosperity

Communes and Republics of Northern Italy

City-States and the Balance of Power

What new ideas were associated with the Renaissance?  

Humanism

Education

Political Thought

Christian Humanism

The Printed Word  

How did art reflect new Renaissance ideals?  

Patronage and Power

Changing Artistic Styles

The Renaissance Artist

What were the key social hierarchies in Renaissance Europe?  

Race and Slavery

Wealth and the Nobility

Gender Roles

How did nation-states develop in this period?  

France

England

Spain  

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD  

REVIEW & EXPLORE  

Viewpoints Venice vs. Florence

Individuals in Society Leonardo da Vinci

Thinking Like a Historian Humanist Learning

Evaluating Written Evidence Thomas More, Utopia

Evaluating Visual Evidence  A Gold Coin of Ferdinand and Isabella   

 

13 Reformations and Religious Wars 1500–1600

What were the central ideas of the reformers, and why were they appealing to different social groups?  

The Christian Church in the Early Sixteenth Century

Martin Luther

Protestant Thought

The Appeal of Protestant Ideas

The Radical Reformation and the German Peasants’ War

Marriage, Sexuality, and the Role of Women  

How did the political situation in Germany shape the course of the Reformation?  

The Rise of the Habsburg Dynasty

Religious Wars in Switzerland and Germany

How did Protestant ideas and institutions spread beyond German-speaking lands?  

Scandinavia

Henry VIII and the Reformation in England

Upholding Protestantism in England

Calvinism

The Reformation in Eastern Europe

What reforms did the Catholic Church make, and how did it respond to Protestant reform movements?  

Papal Reform and the Council of Trent

New and Reformed Religious Orders

What were the causes and consequences of religious violence, including riots, wars, and witch-hunts?   

French Religious Wars

The Netherlands Under Charles V

The Great European Witch-Hunt

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD  

REVIEW & EXPLORE

Evaluating Written Evidence Martin Luther, On Christian Liberty

Evaluating Visual Evidence Lucas Cranach’s The True Church and the False Church, ca. 1546

Individuals in Society Anna Jansz of Rotterdam  

Thinking Like a Historian Social Discipline in the Reformation

Viewpoints Catholic and Calvinist Churches

 

14 European Exploration and Conquest 1450–1650

What was the Afro-Eurasian trading world before Columbus?  

The Trade World of the Indian Ocean

The Trading States of Africa

The Middle East

Genoese and Venetian Middlemen

How and why did Europeans undertake ambitious voyages of expansion?  

Causes of European Expansion

Technology and the Rise of Exploration

The Portuguese Overseas Empire

Spain’s Voyages to the Americas

Spain "Discovers" the Pacific

Early Exploration by Northern European Powers  

What was the impact of European conquest on the New World?  

Conquest of the Aztec Empire

The Fall of the Incas

Portuguese Brazil

Colonial Empires of England and France

Colonial Administration

How did Europe and the world change after Columbus?  

Economic Exploitation of the Indigenous Population

Society in the Colonies

The Columbian Exchange and Population Loss

Sugar and Slavery

Spanish Silver and Its Economic Effects

The Birth of the Global Economy

How did expansion change European attitudes and beliefs?  

Religious Conversion

European Debates About Indigenous Peoples

New Ideas About Race

Michel de Montaigne and Cultural Curiosity

William Shakespeare and His Influence

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD

REVIEW & EXPLORE  

Evaluating Written Evidence Columbus Describes His First Voyage

Thinking Like a Historian Who Was Doña Marina?

Individuals in Society Catarina de San Juan  

Viewpoints  Aztec and Spanish Views on Christian Conversion in New Spain

Evaluating Visual Evidence Depictions of Africans in European Portraiture

 

15 Absolutism and Constitutionalism ca. 1589–1725

What made the seventeenth century an "age of crisis" and achievement? 

The Social Order and Peasant Life 

Economic Crisis and Popular Revolts 

The Thirty Years’ War 

State-Building and the Growth of Armies 

Baroque Art and Music

Why did France rise and Spain fall during the late seventeenth century?  

The Foundations of French Absolutism

Louis XIV and Absolutism

Life at Versailles  

Louis XIV’s Wars 

The French Economic Policy of Mercantilism

The Decline of Absolutist Spain in the Seventeenth Century  

What explains the rise of absolutism in Prussia and Austria?  

The Return of Serfdom 

The Austrian Habsburgs  

Prussia in the Seventeenth Century  

The Consolidation of Prussian Absolutism

What were the distinctive features of Russian and Ottoman absolutism?  

Mongol Rule in Russia and the Rise of Moscow  

Building the Russian Empire  

The Reforms of Peter the Great  

The Ottoman Empire

Why and how did the constitutional state triumph in the Dutch Republic and England? 

Religious Divides and Civil War

The Puritan Protectorate

The Restoration of the English Monarchy

Constitutional Monarchy

The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century 

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD  

REVIEW & EXPLORE  

Thinking Like a Historian What Was Absolutism?

Evaluating Written Evidence  Peter the Great and Foreign Experts    

Individuals in Society Hürrem  

Viewpoints Stuart Claims to Absolutism and the Parliamentary Response

Evaluating Visual Evidence Gonzales Coques, The Young Scholar and His Wife, 1640

 

16 Toward a New Worldview 1540–1789

What revolutionary discoveries were made in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?  

Contributions from the Muslim World

Scientific Thought to 1500  

The Copernican Hypothesis  

Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo: Proving Copernicus Right  

Newton’s Synthesis 

Natural History and Empire  

Magic and Alchemy  

What intellectual and social changes occurred as a result of the Scientific Revolution?

The Methods of Science: Bacon and Descartes  

Medicine, the Body, and Chemistry  

Science and Religion  

Science and Society

How did the Enlightenment emerge, and what were major currents of Enlightenment thought?   

The Early Enlightenment  

The Influence of the Philosophes  

Enlightenment Movements Across Europe

How did the Enlightenment change social ideas and practices?

Global Contacts  

Enlightenment Debates About Race  

Women and the Enlightenment  

Urban Culture and Life in the Public Sphere

What impact did new ways of thinking have on politics?  

Frederick the Great of Prussia 

Catherine the Great of Russia  

The Austrian Habsburgs  

Jewish Life and the Limits of Enlightened Absolutism

LOOKING BACK / LOOKING AHEAD 

REVIEW & EXPLORE

Evaluating Written Evidence  Galileo Galilei, The Sidereal Messenger    

Evaluating Visual Evidence  Andreas Vesalius, Frontispiece to On the Structure of the Human Body

Thinking Like a Historian The Enlightenment Debate on Religious Tolerance

Viewpoints Rousseau and Wollstonecraft Debate Women’s Equality

Individuals in Society Moses Mendelssohn and the Jewish Enlightenment 

Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks

Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks(Ph.D., University of Wisconsin–Madison) is Distinguished Professor of History, emerita, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She is the long-time Senior Editor of the Sixteenth Century Journal and the author or editor of more than thirty books, including A Concise History of the World. From 2017 to 2019 she served as the president of the World History Association.

Clare Haru Crowston

Clare Haru Crowston (Ph.D., Cornell University) teaches at the University of Illinois, where she is currently professor of history and department chair. She is the author of Credit, Fashion, Sex: Economies of Regard in Old Regime France and Fabricating Women: The Seamstresses of Old Regime France, 1675–1791, which won the Berkshire and Hagley Prizes. She edited two special issues of the Journal of Women’s History, has published numerous journal articles and reviews, and is a p

John P. McKay

John P. McKay (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley) is professor emeritus at the University of Illinois. He has written or edited numerous works, including the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize-winning book Pioneers for Profit: Foreign Entrepreneurship and Russian Industrialization, 1885-1913.

Joe Perry

Joe Perry (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is Associate Professor of modern German and European history at Georgia State University. He has published numerous articles and is author of Christmas in Germany: A Cultural History (2010). His current research interests focus on issues of consumption, gender, and popular culture in West Germany and Western Europe after World War II.

Instructor Resources

Need instructor resources for your course?

Unlock Your Resources

Instructor Resources

Download Resources

You need to sign in to unlock your resources.

request locked icon

Guide to Changing Editions

request locked icon

Instructor's Resource Manual

request locked icon

Maps and Images in Presentation Slides

request locked icon

The Bedford Lecture Kit Presentation Slides

request locked icon

iClicker/REEF Question Slides

request locked icon

Coursepacks

Sources for Western Society, Volume 1 by Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks; Clare Haru Crowston; Joe Perry; John P. McKay - Thirteenth Edition, 2020 from Macmillan Student Store

Sources for Western Society, Volume 1

Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks; Clare Haru Crowston; Joe Perry; John P. McKay | Thirteenth Edition | 2020 | ISBN:9781319229764

Learn More

Macmillan History: We've Got You Covered!

Macmillan Learning's History 2021 list, complete with format options, shows our newest offerings and our commitment to the discipline of History! However you teach, we've got you covered.

Joe Perry talks about “Thinking like a Historian”

Making History Real and Relevant: A Talk with the Authors of A History of Western Society

Clare Crowston On Global Contacts, Ordinary People, and History as Debate

Making History Real and Relevant: A Talk with the Authors of A History of Western Society

Merry Wiesner-Hanks On Visual Evidence & Up-to-Date Content in the New Edition of "A History of Western Society"

Making History Real and Relevant: A Talk with the Authors of A History of Western Society