A Study of History: Abridgment of Volumes VII-X

by Arnold Joseph Toynbee

Book Overview

Arnold Toynbee's ten-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations is acknowledged as one of the great achievements of modern scholarship. D.C. Somervell's extraordinary two-volume abridgement has captured the method, atmosphere, texture, and, in many instances, the very words of the original. This volume contains the second half of Toynbee's masterpiece.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195001990
• ISBN13: 9780195001990
• Release Date: February 1957
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

invaluable insights

Yes, Toynbee's point of view is a bit archaic. Yes, there are more detailed, more comprehensive studies of history done since his work. And, yes, even the abridgment is heavy reading. But the overview of civilizational development and decline done by Toynbee is unmatched anywhere. The second volume of the abridgment, written 60 years ago and describing civilizations going back thousands of years, is full of glaringly obvious parallels and invaluable insights into what is happening in the world today. Get both volumes of this superb work.