The Story of Civilization
The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant (ISBN 0-671-21988-X) is an 11 volume set of books. It was written over a lifetime and totals two million words. Sadly, the series is incomplete: doesn't mention the events after the Age of Napoleon. The reason for this is that in the first book of the series, Mr. Durant wanted to include the events from the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars to the 20th century.
Series Outline
*I. Our Oriental Heritage (1935)
- The Establishment of Civilization
- The Near East
- India and her Neighbors
- The Far East
- Japan
*II. The Life of Greece (1939)
- Aegean Prelude: 3500-1000 B.C.
- Crete
- Before Agamemnon
- The Heroic Age
- The Rise of Greece: 1000-480 B.C.
- Sparta
- Athens
- The Great Migration
- The Greeks in the West
- The Gods of Greece
- The Common Culture of Early Greece
- The Struggle for Freedom
- The Golden Age: 480-399 B.C.
- The Decline and Fall of Greek Freedom: 399-322 B.C.
- Philip
- Letters and Arits in the Fourth Century
- The Zenith of Philosophy
- Alexander
- The Hellenistic Dispersion: 322-146 B.C.
- Epilogoue: Our Greek Heritage
- Glossary of Foreign Words
- Bibliography
- Notes
- Pronouncing and Biographical Index
*III. Caesar and Christ (1944)
- The Republic: 508-30 B.C.
- The Revolution: 145-30 B.C.
- The Principate: 30 B.C.-A.D. 192
- The Empire: A.D. 146-A.D. 192
- The Youth of Christianity: 4 B.C.-A.D. 325
*IV. The Age of Faith (1950)
*V. The Renaissance (1953)
- Prelude: 1300-77
- The Florentine Renaissance: 1378-1534
- The Rise of the Medici: 1378-1464
- The Golden Age: 1464-92
- Savonarola and the Republic: 1492-1534
- Italian Pageant: 1378-1534
- The Roman Renaissance: 1378-1521
- Debacle
- Finale: 1534-76
- Sunset in Venice
- The Waning of The Renaissance
- Envoi
- Bibliography
- Notes
- Index
*VI. The Reformation (1957)
- From Wyclif to Luther
- The Religious Revolution: 1517-64
- The Strangers in the Gate: 1300-1566
- Behind the Scenes: 1517-1564
- The Counter Reformation: 1517-65
*VII. The Age of Reason Begins (1961)
- The English Ecstasy: 1558-1648
- The Faiths Fight For Power: 1556-1648
- The Tentatives of Reason: 1558-1648
*VIII. The Age of Louis XIV (1963)
*IX. The Age of Voltaire (1965)
- Prolouge
- France: The Regency
- England: 1714–56
- The People
- The Rulers
- Religion and Philosophy
- Literature and the Stage
- Art and Music
- France: 1723–56
- Middle Europe: 1713–56
- The Germany of Bach
- Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa
- Switzerland and Voltaire
- The Advancement of Learning: 1715–89
- The Scholars
- The Scientific Advance
- Medicine
- The Attack Upon Christianity: 1730–74
- The Athiests
- Diderot and the Encyclopedie
- Diderot Proteus
- The Spreading Campaign
- Voltaire and Christianity
- The Triump of the Philosophes
*X. Rousseau and Revolution (1967)
- This volume received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1968.
- Prelude
- France Before the Deluge: 1757–74
- The Catholic South: 1715–89
- Islam and the Slavic East: 1715–96
- The Protestant North: 1756–89
- Johnson's England: 1756–89
- The Collapse of Feudal France: 1774–89
*XI. The Age of Napoleon (1975)
- The French Revolution: 1789–99
- Napoleon Ascendant: 1799–1811
- Britain: 1789–1812
- The Challenged Kings: 1789–1812
- Finale: 1811–1815