Rating: 
Summary: The First Volume In The Story Of Civilization!
Review: "Our Oriental Heritage" is the first book (volume) in "The Story of Civilization" series by Dr. Will Durant.
This text is packed with thousands of facts concerning "the nature and conditions of civilization," and records the cultural history, the economic and political organization, science, art, religion, morals, literature, philosophy, customs, and manners of ancient Sumeria, Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Judea, Persia, as well as the sub-continent of India, China, and Japan.
Written with information compiled in the late 1920's and early 1930's, Dr. Durant does a fantastic job toward creating the monumental historical achievement that is "The Story of Civilization."
I find that Dr. Durant's style of writing is easy to read and understand. Example: "Aurangzeb converted a handful of timid Hindus to Islam, but he wrecked his dynasty and his country. A few Moslems worshipped him as a saint, but the mute and terrorized millions of India looked upon him as a monster, fled from his tax-gatherers, and prayed for his death."
A stunning work encompassing thousands of years! Five stars.
Rating:
Summary: A 1935 view of history
Review: "Our Oriental Heritage" is the first volume of the eleven-volume history of civilization by Will and Ariel Durant.
It is worth the five stars; yet it is dated (1935) and things change. So does the history's we learn as we extrapolate the new knowledge; things will change. The basic information in Will and Ariel's book is still sound. In this volume they cover Egypt, the Near East, India, China and Japan. This is to the present day. However you do not have time to track down all their great references to economics and morality. This book is packed with references and if you do not watch out, you will forget to come back.
In the section on "THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK", he expands on possible original purposes of the Ten Commandments. Things that Cecil B. DeMille never told you.
There is a good section on Buddha the legend and teachings. You might want to watch this movie to see how they differ. "Little Buddha" (1994).
One side book to read that will cover a lot of the same ground is The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition (Vol 1), The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition (Vol 2).
I know this is a short review. I intend to review the other books in this series separately. So if I missed something in the big picture feel free to let me know.
Rating:
Summary: A grand tour of Eastern Civilization
Review: Imagine a man sat down to write the Story of Civilization. All civilization... its lessons, its poetry, its characters, its schemers, its action, and its wisdom. It will require a brave soul indeed. Picture that man at his desk.We definitely do not want a cynic, a hermit with eyebrows curled tight in thoughts of literary vengeance or historical chicanery... let us shut that character down before the first dip of the pen. Instead, we fancy a skeptic, one who owns a moist twinkling eye that comes from perspective, and a slightly crooked smile of insight. We definitely want a man of confidence who has deep love for his undertaking, but maintains gentleness of speech and a crisp, discerning ear; a man with healthy complexion and moderately rounded belly that reflects the love of a caring, tender woman; a man with good humor and love for his neighbors and hometown that extends outward to embrace all of humanity. A man that could write the following: "It was a great moral improvement when men ceased to kill or eat their fellowmen, and merely made them slaves."
"Most history is guessing, and the rest is prejudice."
"Civilization is not something inborn or imperishable; it must be acquired anew by every generation, and any serious interruption in its financing or its transmission may bring it to an end." You can feel the warmth of this man's breath as he reads close to your ear. You can see the proper adjustment of the spectacles; you can hear the wry grin in his voice. And passion is manifest in his full-bodied baritone. Will Durant retrieved and dusted Voltaire's two-century old gauntlet, and found it to fit just fine. Voltaire would have approved wholesale of Durant, for he fit the wise joker's primary criteria that "only philosophers should write history". Durant had produced the master critique of philosophy, 1926's Story of Philosophy, which grandly culled the essences of Spinoza, Bacon, Aristotle, Nietzche, Schopenhauer, Bergson, and all the other deities of thought. By Confucius' rule of learning, Durant himself became an adept. Durant was a philosopher and a prototype skeptic. He also held a mild socialism and a sunny atheism, all in hopes of his fellow man's obtaining a few unreserved hours with which to sit back with a book written by a good friend. On all four characteristics, he still always willingly held objectivity's mirror close at hand: "Fools can invent more hypotheses than philosophers can ever refute, and philosophers often join them in the game."
"Men are always readier to extend government functions than to pay for them." Durant began his undertaking intending only to review 18th century Europe. However, the stories of the past, as well, certainly, as the subconscious calling of his unequivocal abilities, pulled Durant back further and convinced him that he may as well take on Everything while he was at it. The centerpiece of the 11-book set is the grand introduction to Volume 1, Our Oriental Heritage. Here, Durant surveys all of time and humanity for 109 sweeping pages, and does so with such flourish that we may collectively be tempted to inquire of Olympus for Papa Will's reincarnation: "To transmutate greed into thrift, violence into argument, murder into litigation, and suicide into philosophy has been part of the task of civilization."
"Legend, which loves personalities more than ideas, attributes to a few individuals the laborious advances of many generations." Proceeding forward, Durant resolved himself to remedy the primary deficiency in our so-called liberal Western education: the history of the non-white man: "[In China,] the patriarchal family could not be democratic, much less egalitarian, because the state left to the family the task of maintaining social order; the home was at once a nursery, a school, a workshop and a government. " Naturally, the Eastward expedition begins at the same point of all our Westward jaunts: Sumeria. Egypt provides the first semblance of the organization to which we are accustomed, but Durant tarries not long. Babylonia, Assyria, Judea, and Persia are all recounted in this efficient manner. Durant reassembles us quickly and urges us forward into the real cultural goldmines: India and China. "'Better thine own work is, though done with fault,' said the Bhagavad-Gita, 'than doing others' work, even excellently.'" "'What is the most wonderful thing in the world?' asks Yama of Yudishthira; and Yudishsthira replies: 'Man after man dies; seeing this men still move about as if they were immortal.'"
"It is not logic that we need, says Shankara, it is insight, the faculty (akin to art) of grasping at once the essential out of the irrelevant, the eternal out of the temporal, the whole out of the part: this is the first prerequisite to philosophy." In Volume 1, Durant not only guided us into these Eastern lands, he also resolved his style to include every possible element of relevance that would paint the ancient cities and cultures most strikingly in our minds. His vision was simply not to miss a single romantic element... if the charm lay in a village or on a mountainside, then let us fold our arms and quiet ourselves so that we may admire; if instead history shone in the aura of a politician or philosopher, then let us sit for a spell and listen in; if a sculptor or poet, then let us introduce ourselves; if a document on clay or papyrus, then we should absorb as many lessons as possible. Will Durant knew how to embrace and admire a culture before the now-clichéd concept was forced upon us. One of the highest praises that can be bestowed upon an author was most deserved by Will Durant... he was a crafter of splendid sentences. Whether you digest this tome in a month or in a year, your heart, memory, and reason will be finely tuned to the chords of mankind.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST OF THE BEST
Review: In this first volume of the history of civilization, Dr. Durant starts at our beginning. Most of us in the West have little idea of the impact the East had upon or civilization. This work changes that and through his wonderful prose, the author gives us a clear insight. The work is meticulously researched and presented in a fashion that is quite understandable. Please do not be put off by the sheer poundage of the book. At first glance, as one review pointed out, it can be quite daunting. I was quite amazed how fast the work went once I started to actually read the thing, rather than stare at it on the shelf. Will Durants multi-volume work should be required reading in all of our schools. Perhaps if it were, we, as a society, would have a greater understanding where we have been, ergo, have a greater understanding of where we are going. Overall, I highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: better understanding of history
Review: Oriental Heritage by william durant gives the reader an understanding of non-western history. It shows how these cultures ifluenced western culture and what they accomplished. The book is interesting because of the level of information about different groups like egyptians. It provides a valuable resource for anyone interested in history.
Rating:
Summary: Our Oriental Heritage Helps to Understand the 21st Century
Review: Our Oriental Heritage offers a historically rich and well researched opportunity to learn about a period of time not well known (or understood) outside of academe. Writing in the early part of the 20th century about the evolution of human life, Durant meticulously blends his own extensively detailed comments with historical data, giving the reader an accurate, colorful and sometimes gruesome picture of prehistoric life on through the great kingdoms and cultures of Sumeria, Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Judea, etc. The material is intensive (not designed for a "light read"); provides excellent timelines for the advancement of civilization (as well as barbarism within the cultures)and has served me well in my online SeniorNet Books discussion, which incorporates Durants comments and historical data with experiences of individuals from more contempoirary times. Our Oriental Heritage has also been an excellent resource to help us understand more about the conflict areas in which the USA is now involved (particualrly the "barbaric acts" in Central Asia). We are truly learning that there is really "nothing new under the Sun" when it comes to man's inhumanity to man. An excellent resource and valuable publication for the avid reader interested in ancient civilizations.
Rating:
Summary: Our Oriental Heritage Helps to Understand the 21st Century
Review: Simply read 50 pages a week of the Durant series--preferably with one friend and co-conspirator--and, trust me, it will change your life forever. No other writer has the scope and ability for such a project: the story of our civilization. Eleven lifetime volumes.
Rating:
Summary: A daunting, but enjoyable read
Review: Since college, I have wanted to own the ten volume The Story of Civilization by Will Durant. It simply was a purchase that a poor student or a novice pastor could afford. My father-in-law Melvin Gosser, found a set at a garage sale and purchased them for me as a Christmas present. Now, I have the daunting job of reading them. Will and Ariel Durant spent a lifetime in research and writing to complete this set, beginning with the publication of Our Oriental Heritage in 1935 and concluding in 1967 with Rousseau and Revolution. Each of these volumes are massive, between 800 and 1200 pages each. I have to admit, I was tempted to skip over Our Oriental Heritage and begin reading where "real" history begins with ancient Greece. I am so glad I didn't. More than information, the Durants are delightfully politically incorrect. Any historian can give you the facts, a good one will do so with style, but a great historian gives himself. That is exactly what the Durants have done. As I started reading, I made myself review the first two hundred pages and began to underline delightful insights, and the beautiful prose of the authors. Here is an example of their prose: "The scenes of your youth, like the past, are always beautiful
if we do not have to live in them again" Example of their insights: "It is almost a law of history that the same wealth that generates a civilization announces its decay. For wealth produce ease as well as art; it softens a people to the ways of luxury and peace and invites invasion from stronger arms and hungrier mouths." That is not to say that every chapter was spell binding, they were not. There were whole sections that I had to discipline myself to read. I won't fault the author's, however. Reading about ancient Persia, India and China, left me somewhat perplexed. My lack of knowledge of these cultures made it difficult for me to appreciate the author's insights. As I read about the rise and fall of civilizations, I could not help but worry about our own. His insights seem to be coming true every day. Not a read for everyone, but if you have a long cold winter to endure, I can think of no better way to pass the time than by reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: A daunting, but enjoyable read
Review: Since college, I have wanted to own the ten volume The Story of Civilization by Will Durant. It simply was a purchase that a poor student or a novice pastor could afford. My father-in-law Melvin Gosser, found a set at a garage sale and purchased them for me as a Christmas present. Now, I have the daunting job of reading them. Will and Ariel Durant spent a lifetime in research and writing to complete this set, beginning with the publication of Our Oriental Heritage in 1935 and concluding in 1967 with Rousseau and Revolution. Each of these volumes are massive, between 800 and 1200 pages each. I have to admit, I was tempted to skip over Our Oriental Heritage and begin reading where "real" history begins with ancient Greece. I am so glad I didn't. More than information, the Durants are delightfully politically incorrect. Any historian can give you the facts, a good one will do so with style, but a great historian gives himself. That is exactly what the Durants have done. As I started reading, I made myself review the first two hundred pages and began to underline delightful insights, and the beautiful prose of the authors. Here is an example of their prose: "The scenes of your youth, like the past, are always beautiful
if we do not have to live in them again" Example of their insights: "It is almost a law of history that the same wealth that generates a civilization announces its decay. For wealth produce ease as well as art; it softens a people to the ways of luxury and peace and invites invasion from stronger arms and hungrier mouths." That is not to say that every chapter was spell binding, they were not. There were whole sections that I had to discipline myself to read. I won't fault the author's, however. Reading about ancient Persia, India and China, left me somewhat perplexed. My lack of knowledge of these cultures made it difficult for me to appreciate the author's insights. As I read about the rise and fall of civilizations, I could not help but worry about our own. His insights seem to be coming true every day. Not a read for everyone, but if you have a long cold winter to endure, I can think of no better way to pass the time than by reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid History of Near East, Middle East and the Asian Orient
Review: Will Durant is one of the great macrohistorians and the scope of his work always gives a breadth of coverage to sociopolitical, economic, military, cultural and religious historical developments rather than simply a social or political history. He was frequently been accused of being too enamored with Western Civilization and not doing justice to other civilization in the conduct of his research, though I think this first volume is a rather scrupulous charge. I first read this book in 2001, and have made it a frequent reference ever since. Various civilizations from Egypt, the Near East, India, China and Japan. Durant is especially attentive at drawing a picture of Mesopotamia and the early Sumerian civilizations. Persia's history is told with a storyteller's pen and Durant offers an insightful look at how the empire of Cyrus and Darius shaped world history. I found Japan's history to be rather fascinating. Durant covers the feudal developments under the Bushido code to Japan's ascendency to being a modern industrialized state that begins to challenge Western hegemony. The impact of Buddhism on India and surrounding nations is covered with remarkable clarity. Durant peels the clouded veneer of China's conservative sobriety and inclusiveness, in order to offer the reader much insight off of China. He covers hollowed antiquity from the Zhou Period onward to the grand Imperial regime. His insight on Confucian thought and Chinese philosophy is rather intriguing.
I think this book along with The Life of Greece is one of the Crown Jewels of the Story of Civilization sets. Durant is a secular humanist, so myself being a Christian, it is something you have to tolerate in his critique of the "People of the Book," though his insightfulness in other areas redeems his skepticism.
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