The Western HeritageKagan, Donald, Ozment, Steven and Turner, Frank M. (2009) The Western Heritage (Volume One: To 1740) (Tenth Edition) Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, is an American history textbook used for the study of Western civilization and European history. It was published in 1979,Kagan, Donald, Ozment, Steven and Turner, Frank M. (1979) The Western Heritage Macmillan, New York, and has gone through twelve editions. It was written by Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, and Frank M. Turner. It soon became a "standard survey text"Clark, Chalres E. (August 1995) "Review" The History Teacher 28(4): pp. 575-576, page 575 and is published in two volumes. Contributor Gregory F. Viggiano joined the authorship team during the preparation of the twelfth edition.
Considered conservative and old-fashioned when it was published (though with scholarship "entirely up to date"),Percy, William A, and Suarez, Pedro J. (August 1984) "Today's Western and World Civilization College Texts: A Review" The History Teacher 17(4): pp. 567-590, pages 580-581 reviewers chided it for ignoring the Byzantines and Ottomans as well as giving short shrift to Russia and Poland.Kulczycki, John J. (February 2005) "Eastern Europe in Western Civilization Textbooks: The Example of Poland" The History Teacher 38(2): pp. 153-177, pages 155-157 Others indicated lack of attention to the role of the Islamic states and ignorance of Islamic sources.Frank, Kenneth W. (May 1993) "Pirenne Again: A Muslim Viewpoint" The History Teacher 26(3): pp. 371-383, page 371 One reviewer included it among Western Civilization textbooks which "could be plausibly described as consistently following something close to a biblical-literalist line" on the history of Ancient Israel.Cargill, Jack (May 2001) "Ancient Israel in Western Civ Textbooks" The History Teacher 34(3): pp. 297-326, page 304
F.J. Nothling described the 2nd edition as "altogether a useful textbook for those who want a survey of the entire field." On the H-W-Civ network, David K. McQuilkin, reviewing a 1996 combined edition of the text, said, "The Western Heritage is a text that can be used by virtually any first-year college student. It is clear, concise functional, and adequately supported with recent historical scholarship. Moreover, the text achieves exactly what the authors intend it to achieve--that is, a succinct and balanced overview of Western culture and civilization suited to those whose knowledge of the subject is limited. Given this success, The Western Heritage has a definite place among current Western civilization textbooks, for it is compatible with a broad range of divergent teaching approaches and methodologies."
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