Based on the highly successful A History of Western Society, Understanding Western Society: A Brief History captures students’ interest in the everyday life of the past and ties social history to the broad sweep of politics and culture. Abridged by 30%, the narrative is paired with innovative pedagogy, designed to help students focus on significant developments as they read and review. An innovative, three-step end-of-Chapter study guide helps students master key facts and move toward synthesis.

A History of Western Society examines Western civilization through the lives of ordinary people as well as historical figures, using an engaging, lively writing style to capture student interest. The authors pay careful attention to political and cultural phenomena and provide a balanced account of Western history. Merry Wiesner and Clare Crowston are new authors to this edition--both scholars of women and gender--who do an excellent job of revising and improving the treatment of gender throughout the text.

Sources for Western Society provides a variety of primary sources to accompany A History of Western Society, Thirteenth Edition. With over thirty new selections - including several compelling visual sources - and enhanced pedagogy throughout, students are given the tools to engage critically with canonical and lesser known sources. Each chapter includes a "Sources in Conversation" feature that asks students to analyze aspects of differing views on key topics. Sources for Western Society is FREE when packaged with A History of Western Society and is included for FREE with the LaunchPad for A History of Western Society. In LaunchPad for A History of Western Society, 13e, which combines ebooks for A History of Western Society and Sources for Western Society in a central course space, innovative auto-graded exercises accompanying the reader's documents and visuals supply a distinctive and sophisticated pedagogy that not only helps students understand the sources but think critically about them. Sources for Western Society is also available to customize through Bedford Select.

Long praised by instructors and students alike for its readability and attention to everyday life, the eleventh edition of A History of Western Society includes even more built-in tools to engage today's students and save instructors time. This edition features a brand-new, comprehensive primary source program in-text and online, expanded chapters devoted to the lives of ordinary people that make the past real and relevant, and the best and latest scholarship throughout. Enhanced with a wealth of digital content—including carefully developed online document assignments for each chapter with auto-graded exercises—the eleventh edition provides easily assignable options for instructors and novel ways for students to master the content. Now integrated with LearningCurve, an adaptive online resource that helps students retain the material and come to class prepared. To see an example of the new Online Document Assignment from Chapter 14, click here. What's in the LaunchPad

This brief edition offers the unsurpassed social history of A History of Western Society in an accessible, lively format. Short enough to use with supplements and more affordable than its parent text, A Brief History retains the sustained attention to daily life, the rich art and map program, and all of the special features of the full-length edition. Extensive study aids help students comprehend the material and prepare for exams. Now you can have it all in a briefer book.

This two-volume primary source collection provides a diverse selection of documents to accompany each chapter of A History of Western Society, Ninth Edition, and Western Society: A Brief History, First Edition. Each chapter contains at least four written sources that present history from the perspectives of well-known figures and ordinary individuals alike. Chapter introductions offer an overview of the period under discussion, and document headnotes and reading and discussion questions encourage student understanding. Each chapter concludes with a list of comparative questions that ask students to draw connections between sources and across time.