Contents: Prehistory and near eastern civilizations -- Aegean civilizations: The Minoans, the Mycenaeans, and the Greeks of the archaic age -- Classical Greek civilization: The Hellenic age -- Classical Greek civilization: The hellenistic age -- Roman civilization: The Pre - christian centuries -- Judaism and the rise of christianity -- Late Roman civilization -- The successors of Rome: Byzantium, Islam and the early medieval west -- The High middle ages: The Christain centuries -- The Late middle ages: 1300 - 1500 -- The Early renaissance: Return to classical roots 1400-1494 -- The High renaissance and early mannerism: 1494-1564 -- Northern humanism, northern renaissance, religious reformations, and late mannerism: 1500-1603 -- The Baroque age: Glamour and grandiosity 1600-1715 -- The Baroque age II: Revolutions in scientific and political thought 1600-1715 -- The age of reason: 1700-1789 -- Revolution, reaction and cultural response 1760-1830 -- The Triumph of the bourgeoisie: 1830-1871 -- The Age of early modernism: 1871-1914 -- The Age of the masses and the Zenith of modernism: 1914-1945 -- The Age of Anxiety and beyond 1945- -- Appendix: Writing for the humanities: Research papers and essay examinations -- Glossary