The West in the Wider World: Sources and Perspectives, Volume 1: From Antiquity to Early Modernity

by David Kammerling Smith and Richard Lim

The first college reader to focus on the central historical question, How did the West become the West?, The West in the Wider World: Sources and Perspectives offers a wealth of source materials to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312204582
• ISBN13: 9780312204587
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: Bedford Books
• Length: 406 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.5" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A good reader for certain students

This book is ambitious. It is not your basic primary source reader as it seeks to bring (as is suggested in the title) the "west" into a global context by emphasizing sources which discuss notions of cultural, ethnic, religious, and national identity. I have used it for several western civilization survey classes and have found it at once useful and intimidating. The chapter introductions are clear, informative and illuminating. The writing is consise and engaging. That said, I would recommend this text to professors teaching more advanced history students, and those engaged in "global studies" or international relations. Because the text seeks to bring the West into a larger, more global context, many students find the work to be dense and confusing, especially those with little background in western history. The document selection is excellent, especially from antiquity to the fall of Rome. The translations of the works are good and reliable, and in general the length of the documents are sufficient. The editors let the documents speak without sacrificing too much of the text. The editors, however, ignore good sources after the 5th c. CE. From that point on the documents deal almost specifically with western religions and perceptions of those of different faiths. Fine if you're teaching a religion class, but the book lacks some of the basic sources from the Middle Ages period that young undergraduates need. I do recommend this book, but not for all students or classes.