Put the world today into context by learning about the past through this brief, best-selling Western Civilization text that has helped thousands of students succeed in the course. Jack Spielvogel's engaging style of writing weaves the political, economic, social, religious, intellectual, cultural, and military aspects of history into a gripping story that is as memorable as it is instructive. You will also be exposed to primary source documents – actual historical documents that are the foundation for the historical analysis you read in the chapter. These documents include letters, poems, and songs through history-documents that actually enliven the past. Throughout the book there are also helpful tools to help you digest the reading including outlines, chronologies, numerous maps and key terms with definitions.

傑剋遜•J.斯皮瓦格爾（Jackson J.Spielvogel），美國賓西法尼亞州立大學曆史學榮退副教授，曾師從著名宗教改革史傢哈羅德•格裏姆（Harold J. Grimm）。專長神聖羅馬帝國、宗教改革史和德國史的研究，並且長期緻力於西方文明的通史教學與教材編寫。他最早在賓州開設“西方文明史”課程，先後共獲五次重大教學奬，其中包括賓州大學最具殊榮的教學基金奬——賓州教學奬。他撰寫西方文明史及其他世界史教科書，多次再版，被美國各大院校廣泛采用。