For one-/two-semester courses in Introduction to Humanities and Cultural Studies. Volumes I and II contain literature selections at the end of each chapter. The Combined Volume does not contain literature selections.

This text is richly illustrated, beautifully designed and engaging. It offers an exploration of Western and World civilization's cultural heritage. Students move chronologically through major periods and styles to gain insight into the achievements and ideas in painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, philosophy, religion, and music. In 24 chapters, the Combined Volume provides students with a historical political, economic, and social framework to contextualize these achievements within a specific time and place, from prehistoric culture to 20th Century America. Timelines, maps, four-color and two-color illustrations, and a variety of unique interrelationship boxes help students make important interdisciplinary and cross-cultural connections, and help them relate the richness and meaning of the past to their own lives in the present.