A History of Civilizations by Fernand Braudel

In his memory he belonged to a peasant family from Lorraine, on the borders of France and Germany. For that reason we often tend to forget how important was this revolution in historical method: it takes a discovery like that presented here, of a lost work by the master on his favourite theme, to remind us of our debt to him.īraudel liked to think of himself as a typical Frenchman from the provinces. So universal has his influence been on the study of history since the publication of his first major work fifty years ago that it is almost impossible for us to remember what history was like before Braudel. His widely acclaimed works include A History of Civilizations, On History, The Structures of Everyday Life, and The Wheels of Commerce.įernand Braudel (1902-1985) was the greatest historian of the twentieth century. With its extraordinary depth and range of knowledge, Braudel’s superb history-expertly annotated to reflect recent archaeological discoveries-brings to life as never before the beginnings of Western culture.įernand Braudel (1901-1985), the most celebrated French historian of the postwar era, taught at the Collège de France and was a member of the École Pratique des Hautes Études.

What follows is the epic story of how the Phoenicians, the Etruscans, the Greeks and Romans, and the great river civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt struggled and thrived in this demanding but gloriously beautiful world bordered and shaped by the Mediterranean. The magnificent text begins with the history of the Mediterranean seabed itself-the layers of clay, sand, and limestone from which the Egyptians carved their ancient tombs and with which the megalithic temples in Malta were built. Written in the late 1960s-the decade during which Fernand Braudel was also atwork on his monumental Civilization and Capitalism-the manuscript was set aside on the death of the author’s longtime friend and editor, Albert Skira. Borzoi Reader | Authors | Fernand BraudelĪ previously unpublished work by one of the greatest historians of the twentieth century: the story of the Mediterranean in ancient times, from its geological beginnings to the great civilizations that flourished along its shores.

A History of Civilizations by Fernand Braudel