Western Society - Essay Example

Topic: Annotated bibliography Rüsen, Jörn. Western Historical Thinking. 1st ed. New York: Berghahn Books, 2002. Print. The general postulates about the western historical thought regardless of the Christian or occidental origins follow a general code that is used to explore the ramifications of peace, the potential and actual dangers of war. It is a philosophy that looks into the actual events in the light of conflict as well as development. The book looks at the history of the western civilization and what it has had on the entire global orientations. It manages to conduct this outlook using the lenses of the power of the people and the potential prejudices. However, in as much as the book has a deeper insight into the history of the western civilization, there are areas where it lack. The information used in the construction of the argument are mainly from western nations. The interactions between the other nations and the western world are not well represented leading to a major flaw. Furr, Grover Carr. Medieval Literature And History Page. 1st ed. Upper Montclair, N.J.: Montclair State University, Dept. of English. Print. The text looks at the social aspect of the history of the western civilizations. This book has a wide coverage since it looks at the diverse cultures that are existent in the western world. However, it has a major focus being the influence of the European nations especially the Great Britain on the development of the social orientations of the people. This book is sufficient in that it has an integrated approach to the western history. It covers the issue of gender and cultural diversity with a particularly keen intent covering all the periods that marked major changes. The writing approach used in the book is both compelling and fascinations. The details about the daily life are reduced into writing and expounded on leading to the development of a deeper understanding of the events that informed the current pleasures. The books makes enables the student to better identify with the past. McKay, John P et al. Sources Of Western Society. 1st ed. Print. The text mentioned above looks into the social history of the western civilizations using the political and cultural lenses. This is a second volume in a series by the same authors that captivates the students’ interest in the history of the major civilizations. This book focuses on the rise of England as a major world force and the aspects that could have contributed to the rise of the greatest empire ever. It also looks at the creation of the United States from the baby steps moment to its rise as the greatest nation. The politics of the rise and fall of great kingdoms is not the only issue that pervades the text. On the contrary, the book has more content on the cultural diversity. The scope of the book content is a major flaw for the book since there is a lot that is does not cover satisfactorily. Toynbee, Arnold, and David Churchill Somervell. A Study Of History. 1st ed. London: O.U.P, 1960. Print. The author looks at the civilization in the western world from the time of the Ottoman Empire. The text covers the tribulations that the majority of the nations in the west underwent at one time in their development which is being under the rule of an alien rule. It covers the tribulations of the Greek orthodox Christian community. The uprooting of the orthodox Christians is a representation of the real issues that affected the old religions. The encounters between the major world religions of the time led to the development of the ultimate religion. However, the influence of the government was always evident in the religion that later became the most outstanding. However, the major theme in the text is the influences that encounters between religions had on each other. Influences were not limited to the religious aspects alone but they extended to other cultural issues. McKay, John P. Sources Of Western Society. 1st ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martins, 2010. Print. This text draws a lot from the previous works by McKay. The book has the same focus with the previous works since it looks at the interactions between the politics and the culture of the people. It seeks to build the interest in the topic on the everyday life in the past two millennia to the developments that later came to be accepted in the world. The approach used by the authors is effective since the majority of the book is built of a narrative composition. The narrative is further abridges with an innovative pedagogy that has a prime goal of ensuring that the students have the right focus on the most significant developments as they go through the review process. The book does not have any major flaw or downside apart from the fact that it is more of an exposition on the previous editions. Young, Robert. White Mythologies. 1st ed. London: Routledge, 1990. Print. The book focuses on a different aspect of the western civilizations that are built on the power of the people to reason. This book is important in the creation of the exact discourse of the major drivers of change in the society with the majority of the developments in the western civilizations being the effects of the education. It looks at the concepts of the enlightened society by going through the intricacies of the arguments. It looks at some of the perceptions that have been peddled around to represent the west and reduces them into mythologies. The significance of the mythologies outlook on the western history is the replication or imposition of the same on the world with the majority of the people being regarded as the major representations of the world. Being able to distinguish the mythologies from ideologies creates a representative image of the western civilizations. Hause, Steven C, and William S Maltby. Essentials Of Western Civilization. 1st ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2001. Print. Essentials of the western civilization is a historical outlook into the major issues that have driven the change in the world over the time. The text offers a brief yet balanced insight in the issues that have informed the developments in the western nations. It looks at both the social and political aspects of the western civilizations. It also looks at the interactions between the two and the results of such interactions and their effect on the nations with the majority of the insight being the ability to make conscious development oriented decisions. The text looks at the ways used to deal with the issues of class in the old days and the effect of the adopted approaches in the end. It looks at the role of the women in the society and the issues that informed the change in the world outlook of gender superiority. Therefore, the book is able to focus on the gains of the civilizations at each step of western civilization.  Hause, Steven C, and William S Maltby. Western Civilization. 1st ed. Belmont, CA: West/Wadsworth, 1999. Print. Hartmut looks at the issues that have influenced the development of the social history of the western society. The book looks at the similarities that have been in play in the western societies. It also looks at the cultural divergences between the different ethnicities that were living in the area. This book does not limit itself to the races in one area. Instead it looks at the individual aspects of the people that have lived in Europe. This way the book paints the path of each ethnicity on Europe accordingly while looking at the general trend in the social development of the major ethnicities. However, the book fails to exhaust all the information concerning the western civilizations with the majority of the significant issues that informed the social history of the various ethnic groups being neglected. Pavlac, Brian Alexander. A Concise Survey Of Western Civilization. 1st ed. Lanham, Md.: Rowman& Littlefield, 2011. Print. In the concise survey of the western civilizations, there is an outlook into the diversities and both the real and implied supremacies. The book has a peculiar focus compared to the rest of the books in the study since it looks at the changes on what was termed as superior or not. Religious tolerations is one of the concepts that the books touches on as a point of enlightenment. The toleration of the religion is not explained using the rationality precepts. Quite to the contrary, this is an extension of humanitarianism. This religiously drawn precept has been a pervading construct of the western civilizations. The ideal of humanitarianism never took any root in the majority of Christian societies. People conducted act of violence that were against the basic teachings of the faith that they professed. However, the people have changed to incorporate more realistic depictions of humanitarianism that pervades the modern western society. Osborne, Roger. Civilization. 1st ed. New York: Pegasus Books, 2006. Print. Various images of the western civilization have been thrown in the faces of the people with the majority of the views being adulteratedwith fictional relativity and falsifications. Political leaders are the most notorious when it comes to the selective depictions of the western world during the civilization era. The political class paints the civilization period as a time of achievement, tolerance for one another, freedoms and pervasive democracy. However, the reality of the matter is contradictory to the above depictions with the majority of the people in the regions being plagued with abject poverty, low mortality and general lawlessness. The book seeks to diffuse the smoke cloud created by the leaders on the efficacy of the society as far as civilization was concerned. It talks about the dark aspects of the western history that most of the historians are too eager to shun. The unorthodox explanation of the events that preceded the western civilizations paints a clearer picture of the history of the western world. Conclusion The books talks about the civilization of western nations from the day that they were created up to now. They also throw in the aspects of how these western nations have influenced the growth of other nations. The books give a detailed account of the events and issues that have shaped the countries to what they are now. Some of the books have concentrated on the rise of Great Britain to a super power and how this influenced the United States to being a super power. Cultural diversity and ethnic issues have also been highlighted, and used to show how these factors have played a part in the western civilization. Also they have highlighted the origin of Christianity as a result of the western civilization The books have also given a specific placing of the western society in this period. The western society is seen as a leader in the world. They have been known for setting phase on crucial development agendas and new cultural changes. There place in society has been seen as that of a helper and advisor to many other nations. The western civilization has improved technology and way of life of many other nations. They have been known of setting up charitable organizations to help with growth of other countries. The sources have highlighted many issues that are affecting the word as a result of the western civilization. They have given examples of the powers that the western civilization has and they are using to influence the direction in which the world is taking. Majority of the books have talked about the influence of Britain and United States on the growth of the world. Read More