The Story of Civilization
Publisher: Simon & Schuster. Country: United States. Date: 1935-75.
The Age of Louis XIV.
by Durant, Will and Ariel.
New York, Simon & Schuster, 1963 (The Story of Civilization, Part VIII).
THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION (SIMON & SCHUSTER)
Series Note: The Story of Civilization was a series of eleven books written over four decades (1935-1975) by Will Durant, a historian and philosopher, and his wife and researcher and co-author, Ariel. It was written as a survey both Eastern and Western civilizations for the general reader, with a particular emphasis on Western history.
The tenth volume of the series, Rousseau and Revoution, won a Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1968.
The books in this series all became bestsellers, going through many reprintings. All eleven volumes were Book-of-the-Month Club selections. The volumes enjoyed "total sales of more than two million copies in nine languages" (The New York Times, 9 November 1981). However, the academic reception for the series was mixed.
Writing about a volume in the series, Geoffrey Bruun (The New York Times, 15 September 1957) described Will Durant as follows:
"Mr. Durant has been the cicerone of a magnificent junket through time, directing attention to its curiosities and blowing the dust from many a golden thread in Clio's faded garments. Few contemporary historians have scanned broader vistas with a keener eye for captivating details and colorful personalities. Few have poured three million words into print with more eloquent and inextinguishable zest."
Volume Number / Title / Year of Publication
I. Our Oriental Heritage (1935)
II. The Life of Greece (1939)
III. Caesar and Christ (1944)
IV. The Age of Faith (1950)
V. The Renaissance (1953)
VI. The Reformation (1957)
VII. The Age of Reason Begins (1961)
VIII. The Age of Louis XIV (1963)
IX. The Age of Voltaire (1965)
X. Rousseau and Revolution (1967)
XI. The Age of Napoleon (1975)
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Author: David Paul Wagner
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