Showing results by author "Will Durant" in All Categories

The great series The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant is one of the most monumental achievements in historical writing. In its eleven massive volumes, it tells the story of Western civilization from its origins to the age of Napoleon. This volume, The Climax of Christianity, is taken from The Age of Faith, the fourth in the series. It covers the years between 1095—the launching of the First Crusade—and 1300: the age of Dante Alighieri, whose epic poem Divine Comedy is one of the greatest treasures of our civilization.

"The Story of Philosophy: Plato" delves into the life and teachings of one of history's most influential philosophers. This accessible exploration traces Plato's philosophical journey from his origins as a student of Socrates to his development as a teacher and the establishment of his Academy in Athens. The book offers a detailed examination of his dialogues, addressing profound questions about knowledge, reality, and the ideal state, and assessing their ongoing impact on philosophical thought.

The early modern era in Europe set the mold for the Western world today. It was a complex, tragic, yet pivotal time. It marked the transition between the dominance of the Catholic church throughout Western Europe and the present age of science, reason, and skepticism. The path through this transition was an exciting yet bloody and sorrowful one. The wars between Catholics and Protestants in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries rivaled those of the present in cruelty and atrocity. Durant takes us through the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants in France.