Chapter 1: The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations

Chapter 2: The Hebrews: A New View of God and the Individual

Chapter 3: The Greeks: From Myth to Reason

Chapter 4: Rome: From City-State to World Empire

Chapter 5: Early Christianity: A World Religion

Chapter 6: The Rise of Europe: Fusion of Classical, Christian, and Germanic Traditions

Chapter 7: The Flowering and Dissolution of Medieval Civilization

Chapter 8: Transition to the Modern Age: Renaissance and Reformation

Chapter 9: Political and Economic Transformation: National States, Overseas Expansion, Commercial Revolution

Chapter 10: Intellectual Transformation: The Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment

Chapter 11: The Era of the French Revolution: Affirmation of Liberty and Equality

Chapter 12: The Industrial Revolution: The Transformation of Society

Chapter 13: Thought and Culture in the Early Nineteenth Century

Chapter 14: Surge of Liberalism and Nationalism: Revolution, Counterrevolution, and Unification

Chapter 15: Thought and Culture in the Mid-Nineteenth Century: Realism and Social Criticism

Chapter 16: Europe in the Late Nineteenth Century: Modernization, Nationalism, Imperialism

Chapter 17: Modern Consciousness: New Views of Nature, Human Nature, and the Arts

Chapter 18: World War I: The West in Despair

Chapter 19: The Era of Totalitarianism

Chapter 20: World War II: Western Civilization in the Balance

Chapter 21: The West in a Global Age