Foundations of Western Civilization II: A History of the Modern Western World

By: Robert Bucholz, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Robert Bucholz

Length: 24 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Beginning with the Renaissance, the culture of the West exploded. Over the next 600 years, rapid innovations in philosophy, technology, economics, military affairs, and politics allowed what had once been a cultural backwater left by the collapse of the Roman Empire to dominate the world.

This comprehensive series of 48 lectures by an award-winning teacher and captivating lecturer will show you how - and why - this extraordinary transformation took place.

As you listen to the series, you'll begin to grasp not only the history of Western civilization, but the meaning of civilization itself, as this grand narrative of the past five centuries creates a coherent context for the period's events and trends, and offers an analysis of what these five centuries have bequeathed to us. Lecture by lecture, you'll explores the ideas, events, and characters that modeled Western political, social, religious, intellectual, cultural, scientific, technological, and economic history between the 16th and 20th centuries. You'll learn how Western civilization was shaped by the low as well as the mighty, the practical as well as the artistic. You'll gain a larger understanding of the political, social, and cultural events that shaped Europe. And you'll explore the ramifications of these epoch-making events on the rest of the world, including the United States.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2006 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2006 The Great Courses

Outstanding

this is required for any individual in the modern day West. Absolutely incredible view of our history and the intricacies associated with the thousands of stories within it. Get it today and you'll be hooked by the end of the first lecture.

Incredibly delivered and quite the adventure!

A remarkable journey through several centuries of European History. As a new student of history, I highly recommend this as a baseline to any complex tour through human history.

Comprehensive run down of western civilisation

This is a great series of lectures giving the audience a comprehensive view of western civilisation starting from 1500. I was truly intrigued by the detail analysis of the events and major turning points learning from the professor. I would highly recommend this lecture for anyone who is interested in learning from history to create a more accurate world view.

A must-listen!

As a political scientist and historian I wish everyone could hear this lecture series. Listen to it and then listen again. I highly recommend any of the Great Courses lectures on history.

Western Civilization Must Be Told

It is so satisfying listening to someone who knows and can relay the context of western civilization and why it is important and should not be ignored or downplayed. At a time when the appetite for dogpiling on the West seems to be a national pastime - it is more important than ever to know how we got here. More importantly, why it is that Western Civ refuses to settle or accept, but instead continues pushing towards progress.

another tour deforce from prof. bucholz

This is a wonderful, fun lecture series from Prof. Bucholz. This has some overlap with the modern European history by Prof. Childers and other courses like the Long Nineteenth Century and other GC history. That said, it was informative and fun. This professor's series on the Tudors and the Stuarts is amazingly good too.

Wow. I have learned so much.

If I had had a history teacher like this in high school or college I might not be having to learn all this in my seventies. But better late than never. I had come to most of the same conclusions about the meaning and purpose of civilization but never had historical knowledge to confirm those ideas.
I inspired to learn more and apply it to my life.

Priceless!

I am a child of the 50's. Everybody bought a set of encyclopedias for their house. Research was accomplished by visiting the library and researching articles and books via the research dept using the readers guide to periodical literature. Today we have everything at our fingertips with a laptop computer and the internet. In high school and college we took American history,and world history(divided into sections over the past 2000 years. This amazing series begins much earlier with the "Big Bang theory" and takes us to the evolution of stars, the universe, the Sun as one of the stars, photosynthesis and early life in the ocean, single cell, multi cell, life movement from water to land, evolution of early life to more advanced life, human life evolving from hunters, gatherers, to agrarian people. Buy this history and learn in a concise series of lectures "Big History". If you read this series together with Jean Auel's trilogy beginning with "Clan of the Cave Bear: You will have more enjoyment of the pure history matched with enjoyable fiction.

Great history that I really enjoyed.

Thanks, really enjoyed all the great parts that I never fully understood. I'd definitely recommend this book to people looking to better understand the last 500 years.

Absolutely exceptional!

The material was easy to understand and fun to learn. The Professor was clear of speech and had a wide and thoughtful focus.