The Western Tradition

One of the many sets of books in my father's library include the "The Story of Civilization" collection by Will & Ariel Durant, parts of which I read. I did not have the patience to read through all eleven volumes, but I did go through his paperback, "Story of Philosophy". I was looking forward to taking a "History of Civilization" course in college, but unfortunately Harvard did not offer such a course.

About ten years ago, I located at the local Bellevue library a set of videos on the "Western Tradition," based on a series of college lectures by UCLA professor Eugen Weber, which I enjoyed. The videos contain thousands of images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and include cool music. It's perfect for those people who rather watch the movie than read the book. I just discovered that the videos are available for free on-demand viewing at the Annenberg Foundation's Learner.org website.

Comments

[kim]

I have some sad news. Eugen Weber, one of my favorite undergraduate professors, has passed on. As much as you have enjoyed his videos, I greatly enjoyed his lectures. I guess I was just lucky to have signed up for Western Civ the quarter he was teaching - he was an incredible historian and storyteller. There is a memorial scheduled next month. I've copied the details below.

The UCLA History Department

and

Mrs. Jacqueline Weber

Invite you to attend a Memorial Ceremony celebrating the life and work of

Eugen Weber
Professor Emeritus of History

1925-2007)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007
4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
UCLA Faculty Center

Gifts in honor of Professor Weber can be made to the Eugen Weber Memorial Fund at UCLA. Please visit http://www.history.ucla.edu/giving or contact Steve Jennings at (310) 825-2558.