In the beginning : prehistory and illiterate societies -- A torrent of words : change and custom in classical Greece -- The birth of abstraction : Plato, Aristotle, and the rational mind -- The universal civilization : Rome and the barbarians -- Augustine's vision of Christianity : from rebel sect to universal faith -- Religion as civilization : the establishment of Western Christendom -- Another way of living : the medieval town and communal life -- Art as civilization : wealth, power, and innovation in the Italian Renaissance -- The search for the Christian life : the European Reformation as a new beginning -- Kings, armies, and nations : the rise of the military state -- Us and them : colonization and slavery -- The rational individual : theory and practice in making society -- Enlightenment and revolution : politics and reason in France and America -- Industrialization and nationalism : British dominance and the ideology of freedom -- From rural colonies to industrial continent : the making of modern America -- Towards the abyss : technology, ideology, apocalypse -- The end of civilization : Depression, extremism, and genocide in Europe, America, and Asia -- The post-war world : from social cohesion to global marketplace.