A Study of History

A Study of History
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A Study of History is the 12-volume magnum opus of British historian Arnold J. Toynbee, finished in 1961. In this immensely detailed and complex work, Toynbee traces the birth, growth and decay of some 21 to 23 major civilizations in the world. These are: Egyptian, Andean, Sinic, Minoan, Sumerian, Mayan, Indic, Hittite, Hellenic, Western, Orthodox Christian (Russia), Far Eastern (Japan), Orthodox Christian (main body), Far Eastern (main body), Persian, Arabic, Hindu, Mexican, Yucatec, and Babylonic. There are four 'abortive civilizations' (Abortive Far Western Christian, Abortive Far Eastern Christian, Abortive Scandinavian, Abortive Syriac) and five 'arrested civilizations' (Polynesian, Eskimo, Nomadic, Ottoman, Spartan); thirty in all.

Toynbee applies his model to each of these civilizations, painstakingly detailing the stages through which they all pass: genesis, growth, time of troubles, universal state, and disintegration.

Volumes

* A Study of History
o Vol I: Introduction; The Geneses of Civilizations (Oxford University Press 1934)
o Vol II: The Geneses of Civilizations (Oxford University Press 1934)
o Vol III: The Growths of Civilizations (Oxford University Press 1934)
o Vol IV: The Breakdowns of Civilizations (Oxford University Press 1939)
o Vol V: The Disintegrations of Civilizations (Oxford University Press 1939)
o Vol VI: The Disintegrations of Civilizations (Oxford University Press 1939)
o Vol VII: Universal States; Universal Churches (Oxford University Press 1954)
o Vol VIII: Heroic Ages; Contacts between Civilizations in Space (Oxford University Press 1954)
o Vol IX: Contacts between Civilizations in Time; Law and Freedom in History; The Prospects of the Western Civilization (Oxford University Press 1954)
o Vol X: The Inspirations of Historians; A Note on Chronology (Oxford University Press 1954)
o Vol XI: Historical Atlas and Gazetteer (Oxford University Press 1959)
o Vol XII: Reconsiderations (Oxford University Press 1961)
* D. C. Somervell, A Study of History: Abridgement of Vols I-VI, with a preface by Toynbee (Oxford University Press 1946)
* D. C. Somervell, A Study of History: Abridgement of Vols I-X in one volume, with a new preface by Toynbee and new tables (Oxford University Press 1960)