A History Of Western Society Volume Ii

Based on the highly successful A History of Western Society, Understanding Western Society: A Brief History captures students’ interest in the everyday life of the past and ties social history to the broad sweep of politics and culture. Abridged by 30%, the narrative is paired with innovative pedagogy, designed to help students focus on significant developments as they read and review. An innovative, three-step end-of-Chapter study guide helps students master key facts and move toward synthesis.

Praised by instructors and students alike for its readability and attention to social history, the Value Edition of A History of Western Society is a brief, affordable text that brings the past to life. The two-color Value Edition includes the full narrative of the comprehensive edition and select maps and images. This edition features a new 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.

This brief edition offers the unsurpassed social history of A History of Western Society in an accessible, lively format. Short enough to use with supplements and more affordable than its parent text, A Brief History retains the sustained attention to daily life, the rich art and map program, and all of the special features of the full-length edition. Extensive study aids help students comprehend the material and prepare for exams. Now you can have it all in a briefer book.

The first Western civilization text to make social history its focus, A History of Western Society, Ninth Edition, remains unsurpassed in its integration of everyday life in the broad sweep of Western history. The enduring appeal of social history is strengthened in the new edition with fresh scholarship on gender and cultural history contributed by new authors Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks and Clare Haru Crowston. Compelling writing, fascinating details about daily life, and engaging special features help students identify with peoples of the past, while the authors' sustained attention to cultural, economic, political, and diplomatic history ensures a balanced, integrated narrative.

Astrology is a major feature of contemporary popular culture. Recent research indicates that 99% of adults in the modern west know their birth sign. In the modern west astrology thrives as part of our culture despite being a pre-Christian, pre-scientific world-view. Medieval and Renaissance Europe marked the high water mark for astrology. It was a subject of high theological speculation, was used to advise kings and popes, and to arrange any activity from the beginning of battles to the most auspicious time to have one's hair cut. Nicholas Campion examines the foundation of modern astrology in the medieval and Renaissance worlds. Spanning the period between the collapse of classical astrology in the fifth century and the rise of popular astrology on the web in the twentieth, Campion challenges the historical convention that astrology flourished only between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries. Concluding with a discussion of astrology's popularity and appeal in the twenty-first century, Campion asks whether it should be seen as an integral part of modernity or as an element of the post-modern world.

Sources for Western Society provides a variety of primary sources to accompany A History of Western Society, Eleventh Edition and the new Value edition of A History of Western Society. With over fifty new selections—including a dozen new visual sources—and enhanced pedagogy throughout, students are given the tools to engage critically with canonical and lesser known sources, and prominent and ordinary voices. Each chapter includes a "Sources in Conversation" feature that presents differing views on key topics. This companion reader is an exceptional value for students and offers plenty of assignment options for instructors.

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