For one-quarter/semester introductory-level survey courses in Western Civilization and European History and Civilization; or a supplemental text in Art History or other basic cultural history surveys. This concise survey of Western civilization (based on the best-selling The Western Heritage, Seventh Edition), provides an exceptionally balanced survey of the political, social, and cultural development of Western civilizationits strengths and weaknesses, and the controversies surrounding it. This brief edition condenses the central narrativewithout compromising on vocabulary or conceptual levelto make it more fully accessible to today's students, and to allow instructors greater opportunity to supplement the course with extensive outside readings, if desired.