Western Civilization: A Concise History
Western Civilization: A Concise History is an Open Educational Resource textbook covering the history of Western Civilization from approximately 8000 BCE to the recent past. It is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International 4.0 license and is licensed by Portland Community College.
The textbook is divided into three volumes. The core narrative of the textbook is a political history of the greater Mediterranean region in the ancient period in Volume 1, Europe and European empires in the medieval and early modern periods in Volume 2, and both European and world history in the modern period in Volume 3. Elements of intellectual, cultural, social, and religious history are present throughout, but the main focus of the text is politics over time.
The third version – “V 3.0” – of the textbook was released in May, 2024. Because some OER repository sites continue to link to the earlier version, those links are maintained below, but those new to the textbook should access the latest version.
Volume 1, from c. 8000 BCE – c. 1000 CE:
Volume 2, from c. 1000 CE – 1800 CE:
Volume 3, from 1800 CE – 2017 CE:
Earlier Version (“2.0”) links:
Future revisions are planned and comments are welcome via e-mail at christopher.brooks3@pcc.edu. Please note: I cannot provide research assistance to students outside of my own institution and I do not provide hard copies of the textbook.