A History of Civilizations PDF
Preview A History of Civilizations
AND FERN BRAUDEL j^^^H » Hi i f A HISTORY r. s. $30.00 Canada$37.>0 Fernand Braudel was one ofthe greatest historians ofthe twentieth century. A leadingmember ofthe Annales school, he rejected a narrow focus on V\ ^tern warfare, diplomacy, and powerpolitics, and opened up economic and social history to influ- ences from anthropology, sociology, geography, psychology, and linguistics. In the late 1950s, when the Annales ap- proach was widely accepted in French universities, a major reform introduced the study of"the main contemporary civilizations" into the final vear of secondaryschools. Traditionalists attacked the new stress on the social sciences and eventually tri- umphed, but Braudel was firmlycommitted to such changes. This marvelous survey ofworld history, the last ofhis books to be rianslated into English, was originally intended for French "sixth-formers." Yet its real value is far more permanent. Even an "educational story," Braudel once suggested in a lecture, can become a "tale ofadventure," provided the historian manages to "find the key to a civiliza- — tion" and is not afraid ofsimplicity "not simplici- ty that distorts the truth, produces a void, and is another name for mediocrity, but simplicity that is clarity, the light ofintelligence." Such a lightshines throughout.4 History ofCivilizations. After an introductory section examining the nature ofcultures and civilizations, theircontinu- ities and transformations. Braudel surveys broad historical developments in almost even.- corner of the globe: — • the Muslim world from the rise ofIslam to post-colonial revival — • Black Africa from the slave trade to the dilemmas ofdevelopment (Continuedonbackflap) 1193 £25.00 ' \ a */ a history of Civilizations Fern and Braudel A History of Civilizations TRANSLATED BY RICHARD MAYNE a ALLEN LANE THE PENGUIN PRESS ALLEN LANE THE PENGUIN PRESS Publishedbythe Penguin Group PenguinBooks USA Inc., 375 Hudson Street, NewYork, NewYork 10014, U.S.A. PenguinBooks Ltd. 27 Wrights Lane, LondonW8 5TZ. England Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia PenguinBooks Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 PenguinBooks (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth. Middlesex, England Thisworkwas firstpublishedin France in the collected works ofS. Bailie. F. Braudel. R. Philippe, heMondeactuel, histoireelcivilisations, librairie EugeneBelin 1963 Firstpublishedin France as Grammairede Civilisations, Les Editions Arthaud 1987 FirstpublishedinAmerica 1994byVikingPenguin, adivisionofPenguin Books USA Inc. 3579 108642 Copyright © LesEditionsArthaud, Paris, 1987 This translationcopyright © RichardMayne, 1994 Allrights reserved LIBRARY OF CONGRESSCATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Braudel, Femand. [Grammaire des civilisations. English] Ahistory ofcivilizations / FernandBraudel ; translatedby Richard Mayne. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN0-713-99022-8 — 1. Civilization History. I. Tid-r. CB78.B73 1993 909—dc20 93-30639 PrintedintheUnited States ofAmerica Setin 12/14ptLasercomp Bembo Withoutlimitingthe rights undercopyrightreservedabove, nopartofthispublication maybe reproduced, stored in orintroduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form orby any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior writtenpermission ofboth the copyrightownerand the above publisherofthisbook. Contents List ofMaps ix Translator's Introduction xi By Way ofPreface xxxi Introduction: History and the Present Day xxxv A HISTORY OF CIVILIZATIONS I. 1. Changing Vocabulary 3 2. The Study ofCivilization Involves All the Social Sciences 9 Civilizations as geographical areas. Civilizations as societies. Civilizations as economies. Civilizations as ways ofthought. 3. The Continuity ofCivilizations 24 Periods within civilizations. Underlying structures. History and civilization. CIVILIZATIONS OUTSIDE EUROPE II. Part I. Islam and the Muslim World 4. History 41 Islam as a successor civilization: the Near East in newform. The history ofthe Near East. Muhammad, the Koran and Islam. Arabia: the problem ofa barely urbanized culture. 5. Geography 55 Islam's lands and seas. A continent as intermediary: trade-routes and towns. vi Contents 6. The Greatness and Decline ofIslam 69 No Muslim civilization before the eighth or ninth century. The golden age of Islam: eighth to twelfth centuries. Science and philosophy. Stagnation or decadence: twelfth to eighteenth centuries. 7. The Revival ofIslam Today 93 The end of colonialism and the birth of new nationalist movements. Muslim States in the modern world. Muslim civilization in the twentieth century. Part II: Africa 8. The Past 117 Geography. The darkpast. 9. Black Africa: Today and Tomorrow 137 The awakening of Africa. Economic and social issues at stake. Art and literature. Part III: The FarEast 10. An Introduction to the Far East 155 Whatgeography shows. Barbarism against civilization: the evidence oj history. Distant origins: the reasonsforcultural immobility. 11. The China ofthe Past 171 Religion. Politics. Social and economic affairs. 12. China Yesterday and Today 199 The time ofimposed treaties: China as humiliated victim (1839-1949). China renewed. Chinese civilization in the modern world. 13. India Yesterday and Today 217 Ancient India (before the British Raj). British India (1757-1947): an ancient economy at grips with the modern West. Will India be spared a Chinese-style revolution?
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