A Study of History: Abridgement of Volumes I-VIArnold Toynbee's A Study of History has been acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of modern scholarship. A ten-volume analysis of the rise and fall of human civilizations, it is a work of breath-taking breadth and vision. D.C. Somervell's abridgement, in two volumes, of this magnificent enterprise, preserves the method, atmosphere, texture, and, in many instances, the very words of the original. Originally published in 1947 and 1957, these two volumes are themselves a great historical achievement. Volume 1, which abridges the first six volumes of Toynbee's study, includes the Introduction, The Geneses of Civilizations, and The Disintegrations of Civilizations. Volume 2, an abridgement of Volumes VII-X, includes sections on Universal States, Universal churches, Heroic Ages, Contacts Between Civilizations in Space, Contacts Between Civilizations in Time, Law and Freedom in History, The Prospects of the Western Civilization, and the Conclusion. Of Somervell's work, Toynbee wrote, "The reader now has at his command a uniform abridgement of the whole book, made by a clear mind that has not only mastered the contents but has entered into the writer's outlook and purpose." |
Contents
THE COMPARABILITY OF SOCIETIES | |
THE PROBLEM AND HOW NOT TO SOLVE | |
CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE | |
THE VIRTUES OF ADVERSITY | |
THE CHALLENGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT | |
THE GOLDEN MEAN | |
2 Abandon and SelfControl | |
3 Truancy and Martyrdom | |
4 The Sense of Drift and the Sense of | |
5 The Sense of Promiscuity a Vulgarity and Barbarism in Manners | |
b Vulgarity and Barbarism in | |
c Lingue Franche | |
d Syncretism in Religion | |
e Cuius Regio eius Religion | |
THE ARRESTED CIVILIZATIONS | |
THE NATURE OF THE GROWTHS OF CIVILIZATIONS | |
AN ANALYSIS OF GROWTH | |
DIFFERENTIATION THROUGH GROWTH | |
DETERMINISTIC SOLUTIONS | |
Loss OF COMMAND OVER THE ENVIRONMENT | |
FAILURE OF SELFDETERMINATION | |
Institution | |
Technique | |
THE NATURE OF DISINTEGRATION | |
SCHISM IN THE BODY SOCIAL | |
3 The Internal Proletariat of the Western World | |
4 External Proletariats | |
5 External Proletariats of the Western World | |
6 Alien and Indigenous Inspirations | |
SCHISM IN THE SOUL 1 Alternative Ways of Behaviour Feeling and Life | |
6 The Sense of Unity | |
7 Archaism | |
8 Futurism | |
9 The Selftranscendence of Futurism | |
10 Detachment and Transfiguration | |
11 Palingenesia | |
THE RELATION BETWEEN DISINTEGRATING SOCIETIES AND INDIVIDUALS 1 The Creative Genius as a Saviour | |
2 The Saviour with the Sword | |
3 The Saviour with the Time Machine | |
4 The Philosopher masked by a King | |
5 The God incarnate in a | |
THE RHYTHM OF DISINTEGRATION | |
STANDARDIZATION THROUGH DISINTEGRATION | |
EDITORS NOTE AND TABLESIV | |
INDEX | |
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Common terms and phrases
achieved alien already Arabic archaism Assyrian Athenian Athens Babylonic barbarians barbarism body social breakdown century B.C. challenge chapter Christendom city-states communities conquest creative culture disintegration divine dominant minority economic Egypt Egyptiac Society Emperor England English environment Eurasian Nomad example external fact force frontier genesis Greek growth Hellenic Civilization Hellenic history Hellenic Society Hellenic World higher religions Hindu Hittite human impact Indie institutions internal proletariat Islam Italian Italy Jewish Jews King Kingdom language living Mamluks military mimesis Minoan Minoan Civilization modern Western movement Muslim nature Nomad original Orthodox Christendom Orthodox Christian Osmanlis Ottoman Ottoman Empire parochial Phanariots philosophy physical political present primitive societies problem relations religious response revolution Roman Empire Russian Scandinavian Sinic soul Spartan spiritual Steppe stimulus success Sumeric Syriac Syriac Society technique to-day transfiguration turn victory Volkerwanderung war-bands Western Christendom Western Civilization Western Society Western World worship Yahweh Zoroastrianism