The Great Documents of Western Civilization

"I would like to thank the countless scholars who, by preceding me in recording the history of Western civilization, made this work possible." (p. ix). -Milton Viorst The author has assembled 103 documents that trace the history of western civilization from its roots in the ancient Hammurabi code to the 1945 United Nations Charter. Many of these documents are excerpted; all are discussed and carefully placed in the flow of world events. The introductions to each section and the interpretive commentary on each document add significant value to this collection. The author uses the documents as stepping stones to guide us through the significant events in our history. The documents are distributed across fifteen sections: --1. Rise of Christianity and the Papacy (6 documents) --2. Feudalism and the Frankish State (6) --3. The Struggle between Monarchs and Popes (13) --4. The Reformation (8) --5. The Struggle for Parliamentary Government in England (5) --6. The Monarchial State during France's Grand Siecle (8) --7. Western Civilization Moves to the new World (5) --8. The French Revolution (6) --9. Napoleon and the Reaction (7) -10. Social Unrest in the Nineteenth Century (6) -11. The Rise of Modern Germany (7) -12. The Unification of Italy (6) -13. Reform, Reaction, and Revolution in Russia (6) -14. The Great War (7) -15. World War II and the Nuclear Age (7) Readers who enjoy learning history by tracing its significant documents may also enjoy Will Durant's Heroes of History: A Brief History of Civilization from Ancient Times to the Dawn of the Modern Age, which links the stories of prominent men and women to present several thousand years of world history.

Don't let the title fool you. This exceptional book is more than a reference tome of dry, dusty treaties and treatises. Milton Viorst has used these documents to launch a nimble (less than 370 pages and easily read in excerpts) world history filling and fleshing out much of the US-centric history learned in those same dry textbooks.Viorst's well chosen excerpts (from personal writings and speeches as well as sealed docuemnts) and his taut, even witty introductions serve as puzzle pieces to assemble man's slow struggle to free himself and his surroundings from repression and tyranny (Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence). He then uses them to build cases for the worldwide political and cultural changes which followed (revolutionaries from Simon Bolivar to Garibaldi, the fall of dynasties from France's Bourbon monarchy to the Russian czars.) Viorst also uses "Great Documents" to chart struggles and the changing role of power within the Catholic Church. He charts from its early temporal strength (Pope Siricius' decretal) to Martin Luther's Reformation and its bloody aftermath, to its role in the French and German monarchies to, finally, its moral assertions in Pope Leo XIII's "Reram Novarum" encyclical, which defined its new (and, to Viorst, most praiseworthy) role to this day. Although "Great Documents" could use an update, it's fitting that it ends with the high-ideals expressed in the United Nations charter (in itself a continuation of themes first expressed in Woodrow Wilson's proposal for the League of Nations). That document seemed then to provide some closure and hope after the unspeakable horrors of the 20th century's first half (Viorst calls Hitler's announcement of Germany's invasion of Russia "a moment of salvation for the world.") It also pre-dated a time when nearly all defining world moments would be listened to, watched, and clicked on before they would be written, read, or signed.Nonetheless, "Great Documents in Western Civilization"(which also features an exhaustive list of future reading) is must-read for anyone wanting to more deeply understand evolving political and social systems with the high ideals and failed attempts which followed. Essential for history buffs.