Anne Soulard, Charles Franks, Robert Fite, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.
"There is no part of history so generally useful as that which relates tothe progress of the human mind, the gradual improvement of reason, thesuccessive advances of science, the vicissitudes of learning andignorance, which are the light and darkness of thinking beings, theextinction and resuscitation of arts, and the revolutions of theintellectual world." —SAMUEL JOHNSON, Rasselas.
This book aims to furnish a concise and connected account of humanprogress during ancient, medieval, and early modern times. It should meetthe requirements of those high schools and preparatory schools whereancient history, as a separate discipline, is being supplanted by a moreextended course introductory to the study of recent times and contemporaryproblems. Such a course was first outlined by the Regents of theUniversity of the State of New York in their Syllabus for SecondarySchools, issued in 1910.
Since the appearance of the Regents' Syllabus the Committee of Five ofthe American Historical Association has made its Report (1911),suggesting a rearrangement of the curriculum which would permit a year'swork in English and Continental history. Still more recently the Committeeon Social Studies of the Commission on the Reorganization of SecondaryEducation, in its Report (1916) to the National Education Associationhas definitely recommended the division of European history into twoparts, of which the first should include ancient and Orientalcivilization, English and Continental history to approximately the end ofthe seventeenth century, and the period of American exploration.
The first twelve chapters of the present work are based upon the author'sAncient History, published four years ago. In spite of many omissions,it has been possible to follow without essential modification the plan ofthe earlier volume. A number of new maps and illustrations have been addedto these chapters.
The selection of collateral reading, always a difficult problem in thesecondary school, is doubly difficult when so much ground must be coveredin a single course. The author ventures, therefore, to call attention tohis Readings in Ancient History. Its purpose, in the words of thepreface, is "to provide immature pupils with a variety of extended,unified, and interesting extracts on matters which a textbook treats withnecessary, though none the less deplorable, condensation." A companionvolume, entitled Readings in Medieval and Modern History, will bepublished shortly. References to both books are inserted in footnotes.
At the end of what has been a long and engrossing task, it becomes apleasant duty to acknowledge the help which has been received fromteachers in school and college. Various chapters, either in manuscript orin the proofs, have been read by Professor James M. Leake of Bryn MawrCollege; Professor J. C. Hildt of Smith College; Very Rev. Patrick J.Healy, Professor of Church History in the Catholic University of America;Professor E. F. Humphrey of Trinity College; Dr. James Sullivan, Directorof the Division of Archives and History, State Dept. of Education of NewYork; Constantine E. McGuire, Assistant Secretary General, InternationalHigh Commission, Washington; Miss Margaret E. McGill, of the Newton(Mass.) High School; and Miss Mabel Chesley, of the Erasmus Hall HighSchool, Brooklyn. The au