The Western Experience

Rating:
Summary: A nice 1000-page synopsis of the European Culture, but...
Review: "The Western Experience" edited by Chambers covers a massive range of topics in a manner that is conducive to the understanding of the material. The book discusses many Social, Political and economic trends for each respective time frame. However, there are some glaring omissions as a historical text. The book will state for example, that a certain organization was established in a certain year, however, nothing further is mentioned. No explanations as to why or as to what purpose said organization ultimately served. Further, the text becomes, at times, difficult to follow, as things are not discussed in chronological order. The reader often has difficulty in distinguishing the year and what specific events where happening elsewhere at the same time. But it must be noted here that the reader most certainly does recognize parallelism within history, as the result of its interconnected, yet non-chronological, organization scheme.

If must be noted, however, that while it is at times difficult to follow, the book, especially in the more modern history parts, does a relatively good job of remaining objective.

Rating:
Summary: Western Experience truly brilliant
Review: For any serious student of History, this book is a must have. It gives you the information in such a way, that it is both understandable, and easy to use.

Very well done to the Authors.

Rating:
Summary: Not a book for beginners
Review: I had to purchase this book for my guide to AP European History.

I had never before had a course in European History and this gave me a disadvantage in using this book.

Because the text assumes you know who everyone is, the immeadiately tell you every single way history views important people, classes, wars, monarchs, etc.

Also, the reading can get very tedious.

However, I gave this book 3 stars because it does offer more than just what happened. It also tries to show the student, "why did it happen."

TO teachers/professors: Only give this book to your class if they have some experience of European History

Rating:
Summary: A good coverage of social, cultural and economic history .
Review: The Western Experience is suppose to be a survey for a western civilization course yet there is great confusion about what is Western Civilization. The Western experience is purported to be part of the European civilization considering European Civilization as the civilization of Modern Europe and America. The concept of civilization is avoided in spite of the fact that the text was designed to provide an analytical and comprehensive account of the processes by which European society and civilization evolved. Civilization is defined as just a social organization with more complex rules than those of the cavemen. The proper concept of civilization is not treated in a rational and coherent manner. There is just a superficial reference to the forming of Greek Civilization and Cretan Civilization, while in the case of Egyptian civilization only the Nile River is mentioned as the basic element without considering the other elements that constitute or make-up Egyptian civilization such as organized government, law, religion, writing, etc.