A History of Civilizations

by Fernand Braudel

Book Overview

Written from a consciously anti-enthnocentric approach, this fascinating work is a survey of the civilizations of the modern world in terms of the broad sweep and continuities of history, rather than... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140124896
• Release Date: April 1995
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 640 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

An old historian writes his view of world history

Fernand Braudel was born in 1902 in northwestern Lorraine, France and died in Paris in 1985. This book represents his view of historical events over the past several centuries. I am not a historian so I appreciated and enjoyed the high level discussions and wide ranging views of world history rather than its tedious details. It brought back a lot of memories of great teachers long past. I highly recommend this book to non-historians as good refresher of world history during the past several centuries. It is also a great book to read on a business trip.

Excellent Review Material

If you are going to take a test (AP, IB, CLEP ect.) This is an excellent, accessible overview. Braudel is a competent and insightful writer; the format is VERY economic.

The First and Still the Best Multidisciplinary World History

When Fernand Braudel originally published this text in the sixties, he became a pariah at the Sorbonne. In retrospect that disapprobation was the kind of seal of approval that "banned in Boston" came to embody. Previous histories drilled deep into one facet of history. Braudel's was a pioneering effort in multidisciplinary historical analysis. It captures the historical flow that evolves civilizations, sacrificing only the detail outside the themes. Even subsequent to "A History of Civilizations," other historians have been unable to write a thematic survey that matches this original. And don't be tempted to skip the "soft" introductory chapters with titles like "The Study of Civilization Involves All the Social Sciences," and "The Continuity of Civilizations." These tee up the hard topics, like "The Greatness and Decline of Islam." There's method in Braudel's approach, and it takes patience. Braudel's translator, Richard Mayne had his job cut out for him. The complex syntax is that of a French intellectual of the sixties, and it is retained in Mayne's text, but you become accustomed to it. Don't look for maps or photographs in this Penguin Paperback; the text alone is six hundred pages. There's only one other book in this space, "From Dawn to Decadence," by Jacques Barzun. In my view they are complementary.

Grammaire des civilisations

This book is extraordinary! Meant for French lycéens in their last year before sitting for their bac exam, it was a failure. However, looking at today's situation of the west vis-à-vis the Islamic and other non-western worlds, it is a jewel. Among other things, it explains the origin of today's conflicting attitudes. For example, why the Egyptians and other Mediterranean peoples become in overwhelming majority Moslems several centuries after the conquest by the Arabs.

What are civilizations?

A history that studies the meaning of civilizations. The author first covers the material by tackling the definition and meaning of the word "civilization." From there, the author dives in to the material and breaks the world into geographic and cultural regions. Country's do play a role, but civilizations continue to prosper. The material dates itself when referring to current events (the book was published in the 1960's). A great study tool for those with a strong command of history and wishes to understand the impact of religion, culture and geography