This beautifully written history recenters the West and rekindles the past in a vivid narrative crafted for beginning students. Grafton and Bell tell the epic story of a West engaged in a continuing search for order across politics, society, and culture, driven by internal tensions and global influences. They deliver the past not as a path to the present but as it was lived at the time, grounded in a balanced, comprehensive, chronological narrative. Combined with rich digital resources to instill practical history skills, The West establishes a dynamic NEW foundation for teaching the Western Civilizations course.


About the Author:

David Bell is the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the Era of North Atlantic Revolutions in the History department at Princeton University. His specialty is modern Europe with a focus on the age of revolutions. His book The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Warfare As We Know It was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in History. Bell regularly teaches undergraduate surveys of early-modern Europe and the history of modern warfare. His most recent book is Napoleon: A Concise Biography. He often writes on contemporary issues for general interest magazines like The Atlantic. David is a generation younger than Tony and a rising star in the history profession.