distill of Story of Civilization

Will and Ariel Durant dominated the field of writing history as I grew up and this book shows why. It is a concise handling of what we should have or could have learned from a study of history. It reviews economics, politics, art, the sciences and all fields of human endeavor to arrive at wonderful observations and conclusions.
It accomplishes all this in only a hundred pages.
It does not suggest what actions we, as world citizens, should take, but merely tells us where he have prevailed, succeeded and blundered in the past. Although written over 50 years ago in 1968, it suggests some elements of history which are now our new reality and some which are in the making even today. The disintegration of the arts into chaotic forms, for instance, the threat to Democracy, especially in America, of self-centered dictatorial ambitions, and the continuing dominance of the East against the cultures, economics and politics of the West.
It is a worthwhile read and a prescient analysis of why and how we might (and are) descend into self-destruction, not by nuclear blast, but by political lassitude. ( )

ويل دورانت، مؤلف موسوعة قصة الحضارة، يلقي في كتابه هذا نظرة شاملة على ٥٠٠٠ آلاف سنة من التاريخ البشري، متتبعاً تطور الأخلاق، الدين، أنظمة الحكم، وأساليب الحرب، مبيناً مجموعة من الدروس عن معنى التاريخ بالنسبة للحاضر.
مفيد وممتع. ( )

Thoughtful. ( )

This is an "old" book, but since it deals with the history of man, what's happened in the 40 years since its original publication and today hasn't changed the original premise. The Durant's have spent a lifetime in the study of man over the course of history, and discuss how his basic nature or instincts influence our modern affairs. ( )