Marvin Perry

The primary sources selected for this document reader amount to a sort of "march of time" narrative of twentieth century Europe. Most of them present a stereotyped account of history. To make matters worse, each excerpt of a primary source is preceded by a lengthy summary written by the editors, which allows lazy students to think they can skip the primary source itself and tells even those who do read the source what they should get out of it. In my view, the pedagogical advantage of show more primary sources in teaching students history is that they introduce students to the messiness and surprises that constitute the stuff of history, and spark debates over the ambiguity of how to interpret history. This collection of sources, combined with the editorial summaries, make it all look too pat and straightforward. I do give the collection 3 stars because it can serve as a handy collection of many of the most well-known primary sources of European history - the 'greatest hits,' including things like Lenin's "What is to be Done?", Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech, etc., etc. show less

A really great overview of Western thought. It definitely has a focus on the Enlightenment onwards, but its summaries of antiquity and the medieval period were very helpful also. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get into philosophy.

I read this for a class and i found it intriguing but not exactly to my tastes.

I read this for a class and i found it intriguing but not exactly to my tastes.