1.1: Introduction

What is “Western Civilization”?  Furthermore, who or what is part of it?  Like all ideas, the concept of Western Civilization itself has a history, one that coalesced in college textbooks and curriculums for the first time in the United States in the 1920s.  In many ways, the very idea of Western Civilization is a “loaded” one, opposing one form or branch of civilization from others as if they were distinct, even unrelated.  Thus, before examining the events of Western Civilization’s history, it is important to unpack the history of the concept itself.

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