Product Description

Arnold Toynbee's analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations has been acknowledged as one of the great achievements of twentieth-century scholarship. D.C. Somervell's abridgement of this monumental work is a great achievement in its own right. While reducing the work to one sixth of its original size, he has succeeded in preserving its method and character. The first volume of the abridgement presents Toynbee's philosophy of history as it appears in the first six volumes of the original work. This volume includes the Introduction; The Geneses of Civilizations; The Growth of Civilizations; The Breakdowns of Civilizations; and The Disintegrations of Civilizations. The second volume comprises volumes 7-10 of the original, including Universal States; Universal Churches; Heroic Ages; Contacts Between Civilizations in Space; Contacts Between Civilizations in Time; Law and Freedom in History; The Prospects of the Western Civilization; and Conclusion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #108772 in Books
• Published on: 1988-03-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 640 pages

Customer Reviews

An absolute must have hardcover to pass down to your kids
Toynbee's comparative analysis of the birth life and decline of civilizations is an enlightening masterwork. The corrolations we can draw from history and apply to our own individual development are mind-blowing. A must have in hardback for any library. Takes awhile to work through, but high value added from the experience.

And you thought Nostrodomus was a prophet!
A Study of History is an excellent, lifetime study of how and why civilization progresses through time. Written in 1939, Toynbee predicts the rise of nationalism, the fall of the USSR, and victory of capitalism, and the enormous growth of Western culture. His central theme is simple yet true: civilizations advance by overcoming outside challenges and internal stagnation. Read this once per lifetime.

A highly authoritative and thought-provoking work
I would recommend this book only for very serious students of history and civilizations. I have been struggling through it for about two years now. Although this is a condensed version of the original, it would really need a further condensing. Still, it is a highly authoritative and thought-provoking work, written by one of the finest and coherent minds that has ever existed. Mr.Toynbee has no problem in analyzing the history of civilizations and in doing so eclipses all other authors' attempts to do the same. One has the impression that the author knew he was the best historian of his time - possibly the best ever - and he does not attempt to hide this fact. For him, the history of mankind is a fairly obvious and simple story and he analyzes it with a logic that leaves little room for conjecture. This is not light reading.