Ancient History. With 12mo, half By Professor W. M. WEST, of the University of Minnesota. THIS HIS book is in complete harmony with the report of the Committee of Seven of the National Historical Association. It deals with the Eastern nations and with the Greeks, Romans, and Teutons, the elements from which the modern world has grown. Its aim is to show the continuity of history. Little space is given to legends, or to anecdotes, or to wars; attention is directed to the growth of society, to the development of institutions, to the fusion of peoples. The book is accepted as marking a new epoch in the study of History in this country. Professor C. W. A. Veditz, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine: I like the book because it does not waste any time over the mere curiosities of history. I like it because it puts wars into the background and institutions into the foreground. I like it because it is well balanced; because it breaks away from traditions, where traditions have had nothing but age to recommend them; because it omits the ephemeral and accidental incidents, and emphasizes the lasting influences of ancient history; because it contains frequent, well-chosen quotations from the best authorities, and thus inspires a desire to read further. Principal H. P. Warren, Albany Academy, Albany, N. Y.: I have read it from cover to cover with critical interest. The book is remarkable for breadth of scholarship and skill in treatment. How a man can cover so much ground, and with proper emphasis, in 500 pages, is beyond my ken. All facts relating to a nation are always before him, and he marshals them as a great general arranges a great army. Professor George S. Goodspeed, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.: West's Ancient History is evidently the work of an experienced and skillful teacher. My attention has been specially caught by the admirable organization and selection of material, as well as by the skill and general accuracy of presentation. It will occupy a high place among the textbooks of its class. Professor D. M. Fisk, Washburn College, Topeka, Kansas: West's Ancient History is more than mere annals; it is the rarer thing-historical interpretation, a chapter out of the evolution of human progress. Wisely minimizing the details of battles, the personal chronicles of courts, it emphasizes the broadly human, the economic, the social. Its abundance of exquisite maps would by themselves win study. |