A Study of History: Volume I: Abridgement of Volumes I-VI

Front Cover
OUP USA, 1987 - History - 630 pages
Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History has been acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of modern scholarship. A ten-volume analysis of the rise and fall of human civilizations, it is a work of breath-taking breadth and vision. D.C. Somervell's abridgement, in two volumes, of this magnificent enterprise, preserves the method, atmosphere, texture, and, in many instances, the very words of the original. Originally published in 1947 and 1957, these two volumes are themselves a great historical achievement.
Volume 1, which abridges the first six volumes of Toynbee's study, includes the Introduction, The Geneses of Civilizations, and The Disintegrations of Civilizations. Volume 2, an abridgement of Volumes VII-X, includes sections on 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 the Conclusion.
Of Somervell's work, Toynbee wrote, "The reader now has at his command a uniform abridgement of the whole book, made by a clear mind that has not only mastered the contents but has entered into the writer's outlook and purpose."
 

Contents

I
1
II
12
III
35
IV
36
V
41
VI
43
VII
48
VIII
51
XLIII
307
XLIV
317
XLV
326
XLVI
336
XLVII
349
XLVIII
360
XLIX
368
L
371

IX
55
X
60
XI
67
XII
80
XIII
88
XIV
99
XV
108
XVI
111
XVII
125
XVIII
140
XIX
145
XX
153
XXI
160
XXII
164
XXIV
171
XXV
178
XXVI
181
XXVII
185
XXVIII
187
XXX
198
XXXI
209
XXXII
217
XXXIII
230
XXXIV
241
XXXV
244
XXXVI
247
XXXVII
255
XXXIX
260
XL
272
XLI
275
XLII
279
LI
375
LII
393
LIV
403
LV
413
LVI
420
LVII
429
LVIII
440
LIX
441
LX
444
LXI
455
LXII
465
LXIII
467
LXIV
473
LXV
482
LXVI
495
LXVII
505
LXVIII
515
LXIX
520
LXX
526
LXXI
530
LXXII
533
LXXIV
534
LXXV
538
LXXVI
540
LXXVII
544
LXXVIII
548
LXXIX
555
LXXX
559
LXXXI
567
LXXXII
591
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About the author (1987)

Arnold J. Toynbee was born in London, England on April 14, 1889. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford and studied briefly at the British School at Athens. He served in the British foreign office during both world wars and was a delegate to the 1919 Paris Peace Congress. From 1925 to 1955, he held the position of director of studies at the Royal Institute of International Affairs and was professor of history at the University of London during approximately the same time. His publications include The Western Question in Greece and Turkey, Civilization on Trial, East to West: A Journey round the World, the 12-volume A Study of History, and Hellenism: The History of a Civilization. He died on October 22, 1975.

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