Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Origins : The First Civilizations -- Prehistory -- The Birth of Civilization -- Mesopotamia -- Africa: Ancient Egypt -- Africa: Western Sudan -- The Americas -- Beyond the West: Ancient India -- Beyond the West: Ancient China -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- The First Civilizations Timeline -- 2. Classicism : The Greek Legacy -- Ancient Greek Civilization -- Athens and the Golden Age -- Greek Philosophy -- Beyond the West: Chinese Philosophy -- The Classical Style -- The Hellenistic Age -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Ancient Greece Timeline -- 3. Empire : The Power and Glory of Rome -- The Roman Rise to Empire -- Roman Literature -- Art and Empire -- Beyond the West: China's Rise to Empire -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Ancient Rome Timeline -- 4. Revelation : The Flowering of World Religions -- Judaism -- Christianity -- The Spread of Christianity -- Islam -- Beyond the West: Buddhism -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- World Religions Timeline -- 5. Synthesis : The Rise of the West -- The Germanic Tribes -- The Age of Charlemagne -- Beyond the West: Japan -- Feudal Society -- Feudal-Age Literature -- Early Medieval Music -- Beyond the West: China -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Early Middle Ages Timeline --

6. Christendom : Europe in the Age of Faith -- The Medieval Church -- Medieval Towns -- The Pilgrimage Church -- The Gothic Cathedral -- Medieval Music -- Beyond the West: India and China -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- High Middle Ages Timeline -- 7. Rebirth : The Age of the Renaissance -- Transition : Medieval to Renaissance -- The Arts in Transition -- The Italian Renaissance -- Renaissance Humanism -- Early Renaissance Art -- High Renaissance Art -- Beyond the West: The Glories of the Ottoman Empire -- Renaissance Music -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Renaissance Timeline -- 8. Reform : The Northern Renaissance and the Reformation -- Renaissance and Reformation -- Sixteenth-Century Literature -- Beyond the West: Japanese Theater -- Northern Art -- Northern Music -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Northern Renaissance Timeline -- 9. Encounter : European Outreach and Expansion -- Global Travel and Trade -- Africa -- The Americas -- Cross-Cultural Encounter -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Africa and the Americas Timeline -- 10. Baroque : Piety and Extravagance -- The Catholic Reformation -- The Italian Baroque -- The Northern Baroque -- The Aristocratic Baroque -- Beyond the West: Aristocratic Landmarks -- Baroque Music -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Baroque Timeline -- 11. Enlightenment : Science and the New Learning -- The Scientific Revolution -- The Enlightenment -- Literature and the Enlightenment -- The Visual Arts and the Enlightenment -- Music and the Enlightenment -- Beyond the West: Japan -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Enlightenment Timeline --

12. Romanticism : Nature, Passion, and the Sublime -- Heralds of Romanticism -- Romantic Literature -- American Romanticism -- Romanticism in the Visual Arts -- Romantic Music and Dance -- Beyond the West: Exploring Africa -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Romanticism Timeline -- 13. Materialism : The Industrial Era and the Urban Scene -- The Global Dominion of the West -- Literary Realism -- Late-Nineteenth-Century Architecture -- Realism in the Visual Arts -- Impressionism -- Postimpressionism -- Beyond the West: The Lure of the Exotic : Oceania -- Late-Nineteenth-Century Sculpture -- Late-Nineteenth-Century Music -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Materialism Timeline -- 14. Modernism : The Assault on Tradition -- New Directions -- War and Revolution -- Beyond the West: Mao's China -- Modern Literature -- Modern Art -- Modern Architecture -- Music and Dance -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Modernism Timeline -- 15. Globalism : Information, Communication, and the Digital Revolution -- Post-War Convulsions -- The Quest for Equality -- Science and Philosophy -- The Information Explosion -- Contemporary Literature -- Art and Architecture -- Music and Dance -- Into the Twenty-First Century -- Afterword -- Key Topics -- Globalism Timeline -- Glossary.

"Landmarks in Humanities is a single-volume survey of global culture designed to help students of humanities, cultural history, and history of the arts to understand and appreciate the relevance of historical works and ideas to their own daily lives. In chronological sequence, Landmarks guides students on a journey of the most notable monuments of the human imagination and the most prominent ideas and issues that have shaped the course and character of the world's cultures from prehistory to the present. The landmarks that mark this journey are the great works of their place and time and, in some cases, of all time. The text reflects the author's extensive background in the study of Humanities, which has enabled her to craft a narrative that is at once brief and comprehensive, giving students a thorough understanding of the interrelatedness of various modes of expression--art and architecture, literature, philosophy, and music--without overwhelming them with detail. Each of the text's fifteen chapters is centered on a key idea related to the period being discussed, and contains a series of valuable pedagogical features including timelines, high-quality maps, and boxed material. Each chapter also takes a unique cultural or historical point of view, often through primary sources, the stylistic relationship between two or more images and ideas or between text and image, and contemporaneous non-Western cultural landmarks and cross-cultural influences. In this edition, each chapter opens with 'A First Look' at a landmark work that illustrates the key idea of the chapter and acts as a cultural guidepost to that chapter's overarching theme. This new feature explains the artwork's significance as a landmark in its own time as well as in ours"--