I first started reading this 11-volume series, The History of Civilization, almost 16 years ago in May of 2001. What a joy it has been.
After reading all 11 volumes, including the first four of them twice, encompassing some 10,000 pages, I can't believe that it has come to an end.
The subject matter, approachable writing, sense of humor and breadth of the work is amazing. I cherish this collection like no other.
I've used the series as an outline for my study of history, reading one volume then reading other books from the same time period to dig deeper into the topics that interest me.
Although intended for the general reader, not the academic or historian, the work is nothing but scholarly in its accomplishments. Will and his wife Ariel devoted forty years of their lives to making it happen, and I'm so grateful that they did.
And so we end with Napoleon and his life and times. A man with an out sized ego who thought the ends justified the means. His dream of uniting all of Europe under one nation to bring it peace and prosperity led to the death and misery of countless millions.
He did leave some important advances in his wake, including a Napoleonic law code that helped to advance many countries. He also solidified some of the most important gains of the French Revolution, including the end of serfdom and the sale of ecclesiastic lands in that country.
He ended the madness of the Revolution by establishing order and the rule of law. How much better if he could have stopped there in the early 1800s rather than seeking to "liberate" the rest of Europe for the next 15 years.
So au revoir to The History of Civilization until such time as I can devote the time to reading it again. I should only be so lucky as to have the opportunity to do so.
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