audiobook Raciolinguistics: How Language Shapes Our Ideas About Race by From Alim H Samy in History

Description

Arnold Toynbee's ten-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations; A Study of History; is acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of modern scholarship. "Of all the books published so far in this century;" Clifton Fadiman once said; "the one most assured of being read a hundred years from now is A Study of History." The Los Angeles Times called it "a veritable masterpiece of erudition and one of the most suggestive; stimulating and inspiring studies of this age." In The Study; Toynbee revolutionized the writing of history. By encompassing virtually all civilizations--the Egyptian; the Sumeric; the Mayan; the Iranian; the Japanese; the Hellenic; and the West; to name only a few--within the scope of his monumental work; he achieved the first all-embracing synthesis of world history. Before Toynbee; world histories were histories of the West; and only specialists wrote Babylonian; Arabian; or Aztec history. But Toynbee's scheme includes all nations and; more remarkably; by his emphasis on general patterns--on the genesis; growth and breakdown of civilizations--he was able to give a shape to this incredibly diverse material; making it comprehendable to the general reader. And Somervell's Abridgement is also a masterpiece--a masterpiece of condensation. In only two volumes; he has captured the method; atmosphere; texture; and; in most instances; the very words of the original. By leaving out most of Toynbee's illustrations; digressions; and asides (some of which were quite lengthy indeed); Somervell has actually clarified the argument of the book. The reaction to his Abridgement; when the first volume appeared in 1947; was exceptional: it was an immediate success in America; and exerpts and articles on it appeared in The Atlantic Monthly; Life; The New York Times Book sums it Review; Newsweek; and Time. The review in The Nation perhaps up best: "If [you] have time for only one book during this year--and the next and the next--Somervell's Abridgement...should be that book."