A masterpiece by Pulitzer Prize winner Will Durant!

This book, which has been praised by readers and historians around the world as "a wonderful introduction to learning history," unfolds in a colorful and eloquent manner, covering 10,000 years of human civilization's history of politics, economy, society, and even the flow of culture and thought.
Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning, lucid descriptions and insightful narratives bring to life the history made by heroes and the dazzling lives of the heroes who shaped history.

Will Durant, who presented countless readers with the milestones of philosophy and history through 『Story of Philosophy』 and 『Story of Civilization』, delivers a sharp message that cuts to the heart of the times and penetrates the depths of 10,000 years of human history through profound philosophical reflections that cross Eastern and Western civilizations.
This is a history book that dynamically depicts the most splendid period in history, from the beginning of civilization to the completion of modern times, in a flowing style.

But history has a more pleasant prospect than this pendulum swing between indulgence and its opposite.
I would not agree with Voltaire and Gibbon's pessimistic conclusion that history is "a record of human crimes and follies."
Of course, that's partly true, and there are also billions of tragedies.
Yet, what has kept the flow of life going, overcoming countless obstacles, is the health of an ordinary family, the labor of men and women, and the love.
There is also the wisdom and courage of politicians like Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.
Roosevelt died completely exhausted, but he still finished his work and passed away.
There is also the unwavering effort of scientists and philosophers to understand the universe that surrounds them.
There is also the persistence and skill of artists and poets who seek to give lasting form to fleeting beauty and to reveal subtle meanings.
And there are also visions of prophets and saints who guide us to nobility.
--- p.24

The sophist Thrasymachus said that power is justice.
Thucydides, one of Greece's most important historians, agrees with his views on almost every page.
Most Greeks were kind to animals and cruel to humans.
They regularly tortured innocent slaves to extract information, and they slept soundly even after killing countless non-military people.
War was a normal occurrence in Hellas.
This civilization, arguably the most advanced in ancient history, exhausted itself in 27 years of war, a century after the Battle of Marathon.
It was tantamount to national suicide.
The Athenians were so intelligent that it was difficult for them to be good.
They despised simplicity far more than they despised vice.
No people ever had a greater imagination or a more vivid tongue.
Clear thinking and its product, clear expression, were considered divine by the Athenians.
The Athenians had no patience for anything like educated hesitation, and they looked upon informed and intelligent conversation as the highest sport of civilization.
I agreed with Protagoras' idea that man is the measure of all things.
The desire to know and understand was the noblest passion of the Athenians, but like all else it was excessive.
Later, the Athenians discovered the limits of reason and fell into a pessimism that strangely did not fit with their original optimism.

--- p.123