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A Study of History, Vol. 1: Abridgement of Volumes I-VI New Ed Edition

by Arnold J. Toynbee (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 220 ratings
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Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History has been acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of modern scholarship. A ten-volume analysis of the rise and fall of human civilizations, it is a work of breath-taking breadth and vision. D.C. Somervell's abridgement, in two volumes, of this magnificent enterprise, preserves the method, atmosphere, texture, and, in many instances, the very words of the original. Originally published in 1947 and 1957, these two volumes are themselves a great historical achievement.
Volume 1, which abridges the first six volumes of Toynbee's study, includes the Introduction, The Geneses of Civilizations, and The Disintegrations of Civilizations. Volume 2, an abridgement of Volumes VII-X, includes sections on Universal States, Universal churches, Heroic Ages, Contacts Between Civilizations in Space, Contacts Between Civilizations in Time, Law and Freedom in History, The Prospects of the Western Civilization, and the Conclusion.
Of Somervell's work, Toynbee wrote, "The reader now has at his command a uniform abridgement of the whole book, made by a clear mind that has not only mastered the contents but has entered into the writer's outlook and purpose."
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  1. ISBN-10
    0195050800
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0195050806
  3. Edition
    New Ed
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    December 10, 1987
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    8.5 x 5.4 x 1.6 inches
  8. Print length
    640 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Of all the books published so far in this century, the one most assured of being read a hundred years from now is A Study of History."--Clifton Fadiman

"Somervell has performed his chosen task--a labor of love--extremely well....A remarkable achievement."--The New York Times Book Review

"Somervell's abridgement is an amazingly accurate version of the original."--New York Herald Tribune

"If...[you] have time for only one book during this year--and the next and the next--Somervell's abridgement of Toynbee's Study of History should be that book."--The Nation

"A veritable masterpiece of erudition and one of the most suggestive, stimulating and inspiring studies of this age."--Los Angeles Times

Book Description

"Of all the books published so far in this century, the one most assured of being read a hundred years from now is A Study of History.--Clifton Fadiman

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; New Ed edition (December 10, 1987)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 640 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195050800
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195050806
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 220 ratings

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  1. Arnold Joseph Toynbee

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
220 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Geoffrey S. Bullard
5.0 out of 5 stars A good means for understanding the One World argument and the revival of Nationalism characteristic of contemporary politics
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2017
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Hard to imagine grasping the drift of contemporary events without the overview provided by this Toynbee study. Toynbee worked on this 12 volume study from the mid-1920's to the late 1940's. His interest has been to gather together the recorded evidence of all the civilizations, of which he forms his study of the 20 plus civilations that he is able to identify. He admits that this is too few to reach scientific conclusions. He makes some interesting observations however: great civilizations are germinated from almost impossible challenges that are successfully mounted. Success of course produces new challenges. These challenges produce responses and on average he finds that there is a pattern of 3 such successful challenges before the civilization goes into decline. The downside of civilizations has its own peculiar patterns of decline, some of which have lasted for a 1000 years or more. This section may be of particular interest to students of contemporary events. Many are curious if western civilization is in decline as suggested by Oswald Spengler Decline of the West. Whether it is or not, the current political division concerning Making America Great Again is a revival of old nationalism that is resisting A One World View of history. By the way, for those who want a shorter study there is an abridge version of two volumes by Somervell also called A Study of History. As an appendix, this version has a section called "The Argument" that gives the impatient reader a summary of all of Toynbee's points in just a few pages.
36 people found this helpful
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Scott Caldwell
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece of historical scholarship!
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2022
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I ordered this set of books from one of my favorite historians. This set explores causes of how civilizations come into being, and causes of their eventual demise. (Just like our own American experience happening now.)
4 people found this helpful
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Obscuron
4.0 out of 5 stars The books istself is wodnerful, copy editing is horrible
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2014
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A lot of back-list books that make it onto Kindle contain obvious typos, presumably because the OCR software gets confused when publishers scan them in. This edition is worse than most, and gets progressively worse as you go on. This is especially confusing because Toybee liked to sprinkle in foreign words and archaic spellings. It is ironic that, these days, the free public domain e-books tend to be well edited by volunteers, whereas with the ones you pay for, the publishers apparently can't afford to hire a copy editor. This is the reason I didn't give this edition 5 stars.

The work itself is brilliant. This book has stimulated me more than any I've read in months (and I read about a book a week). I know that Toynbee's theories are deprecated by modern historians, but they make sense to me. Anyway, I wonder how much of that prejudice is due to political and ideological leanings in most university social science departments, at least here in the US. Toynbee was unashamedly Christian and had some extremely disparaging things to say about Karl Marx. In my experience, that is enough to get you blackballed in some academic circles.

The real reason to read Toynbee, though, is not his impact (or lack thereof) on the historical discipline. His real contribution has been on six decades of fiction, particularly speculative fiction. It is hard to overstate how much he influenced Isac Asimov, Arther C. Clarke, Pohl Anderson, and hundreds of others up to the present day. Now that I have just read Toynbee and received the ideas from the source, it gives me a new depth of appreciation for these authors.
41 people found this helpful
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Roberto Fideli
5.0 out of 5 stars The natural domestication of animals: the scientific insight of a classical philologist.
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2014
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Animal domestication was not an act of violence, but a phenomenon of mutual advantage. It was the hunter to domesticate the dog. Then, with the advent of agriculture bovines and other wild ruminants got advantages coming near the cultivated fields. The residuals of the production of wheat were for them a delicious alimentary source. And so in the Neolithic after agriculture herding was born. And also cats came near man perceiving advantages: the cultivated field attracts rats; and at their turn they draw the feline predator (A study of history, III volume, 1933). As a natural carnivore who needs vegetal products too, man differentiates his behaviour towards domestic animals and he recognizes special protections only to some companion animals. But in this stage of scientific development experimentation also on the animal species dearest to us seems unavoidable . Anthropocentrism belongs to scientific deontology.
2 people found this helpful
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J.Carver
5.0 out of 5 stars I really enjoyed this book
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2012
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I really enjoyed Toynbee's perception of the advance and decline of civilizations, particularly I like his philosophical outlook. Constantly seeking points of comparison and departure to determine the currents that move beneath the surface of historical events. It's accesible to lay people but also stimulating enough to get your brain cells churning. The book holds up to critical analysis and seems to be a real mirror held up to the world, imo.
6 people found this helpful
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Lavoris L'Oreal
3.0 out of 5 stars Not the easiest book to read
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2019
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I thought this was a bit thick and his style is indirect so you had to slog through a lot to get to the point. I'm sure it's brilliant, but I would not call it lucid or accessible.
7 people found this helpful
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Alejandro Dh
5.0 out of 5 stars A great book, greatly written
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2016
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A great book, greatly written, has lots of information and you don't feel even a minute less interested, a common characteristic in history books for most people as they become boring, not this book, it's as if you were reading a story, just that this time it's real jaja.
7 people found this helpful
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PAUL E HITCHCOCK
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read and very Relevant
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2019
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Definitely a must read, a classic. I was able to see its applications to contemporary America and what we're experiencing now.
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DaveT
5.0 out of 5 stars Hard going but you will learn a lot....
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2021
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Author is very well informed and there is also elements of philosophy and religious history within the book. Reader must really concentrate as text can involve moving from one time and/or geographical location to another often within one paragraph to the next. I followed the main thrust of the book and the general framework is as follows.
Man forms civilisations as he rises to environmental challenges to particular geographical locations. Once a civilisation is formed societal institutions such as political, religious and legal establishments arise. This society can grow as creative elements, individually, or collectively, such as the Italians during their Renaissance can lead and evolve their societal culture by mimesis. Internal and/or external pressures can then influence the nature of a society. External pressures include assimilation to another polity or war being waged upon the said society by barbarian war lords. Internal pressures can be the penalisation of a group of peoples such as the Jewish (who subsequently underwent a Diaspora) or the Christians in Rome.
Finally civilisations can then suffer disintegration as forces such as revolution (e.g. in France), political or social decay (such as in Rome or Egypt), or civil war (in Hellenic Greece) take place.
I found the book to take the reader to a new depth in the study of history, and while heavy going in places it was accessible. I hope others can take as much from the book as I did
4 people found this helpful
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Abraham T P
5.0 out of 5 stars Quite expensive
Reviewed in India on April 19, 2021
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Book is quite expensive, but worth the buy.
2 people found this helpful
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Jeffrey
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent.
Reviewed in Canada on August 21, 2016
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Toynbee write in a similar manner to me, so I find his works easy to read. This book is an abridged version of his complete works of "A Study of History". Thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned quite a bit from one of the masters of history education.
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Client d'Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Incroyable traité de méta-histoire!
Reviewed in France on November 18, 2015
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Si la thèse de l'église universelle et des "prolétariats intérieurs et extérieurs" me paraît peu convaincante, la richesse de l'analyse, la hauteur de vue et le caractère éminemment transverse et global de la réflexion d'Arnold Toynbee font de ce livre un monument de la pensée humaine. Rien de moins!
2 people found this helpful
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PETER
5.0 out of 5 stars Arrived on time
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2021
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Like the first volume it is a must for anyone who is interested in History
One person found this helpful
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