Books in series
#1
A Study of History, Vol 1
1934
From the back cover:
Arnold Toynbee writes:
In the first volume of A Study of History, I start by searching for a unit of historical study that is relatively self-contained and is therefore more or less intelligible in isolation from the rest of history. I was led into this quest by finding myself dissatisfied with the present-day habit of studying history in terms of national states. These seemed, and still seem, to me to be fragments of something larger, and I found this larger and more satisfying unit of study in a civilization. The history of the United States, for instance, or the history of Britain, is, as I see it, a fragment of the history of Western Christendom or the Western Christian World, and I believe I can put my finger on a number of other societies, living or extinct, that are of the same species. Examples of other living civilizations besides the Western Civilization are the Islamic and the Civilization of Eastern Asia, centring on China. Examples of extinct civilizations are the Greco-Roman and the Ancient Egyptian. This practice of dealing in civilizations instead of nations is taken for granted by orientalists, ancient-historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists. The carving-up of a civilization into pieces labelled "nations" is, I believe, something peculiar to students of modern Western history, and, with them too, this present practice of theirs is only recent. Down to the beginning of the eighteenth century the classic works of Western historians took for their field the whole history of Western Christendom or even the whole history of the World from the creation to the Last Judgement.
#2
A Study of History, Vol 2
1934
Arnold Toynbee writes:
In the first volume of A Study of History, I start by searching for a unit of historical study that is relatively self-contained and is therefore more or less intelligible in isolation from the rest of history. I was led into this quest by finding myself dissatisfied with the present-day habit of studying history in terms of national states. These seemed, and still seem, to me to be fragments of something larger, and I found this larger and more satisfying unit of study in a civilization. The history of the United States, for instance, or the history of Britain, is, as I see it, a fragment of the history of Western Christendom or the Western Christian World, and I believe I can put my finger on a number of other societies, living or extinct, that are of the same species. Examples of other living civilizations besides the Western Civilization are the Islamic and the Civilization of Eastern Asia, centring on China. Examples of extinct civilizations are the Greco-Roman and the Ancient Egyptian. This practice of dealing in civilizations instead of nations is taken for granted by orientalists, ancient-historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists. The carving-up of a civilization into pieces labelled "nations" is, I believe, something peculiar to students of modern Western history, and, with them too, this present practice of theirs is only recent. Down to the beginning of the eighteenth century the classic works of Western historians took for their field the whole history of Western Christendom or even the whole history of the World from the creation to the Last Judgement.
#3
A Study of History, Vol 3
1934
Arnold Toynbee writes:
In the first volume of A Study of History, I start by searching for a unit of historical study that is relatively self-contained and is therefore more or less intelligible in isolation from the rest of history. I was led into this quest by finding myself dissatisfied with the present-day habit of studying history in terms of national states. These seemed, and still seem, to me to be fragments of something larger, and I found this larger and more satisfying unit of study in a civilization. The history of the United States, for instance, or the history of Britain, is, as I see it, a fragment of the history of Western Christendom or the Western Christian World, and I believe I can put my finger on a number of other societies, living or extinct, that are of the same species. Examples of other living civilizations besides the Western Civilization are the Islamic and the Civilization of Eastern Asia, centring on China. Examples of extinct civilizations are the Greco-Roman and the Ancient Egyptian. This practice of dealing in civilizations instead of nations is taken for granted by orientalists, ancient-historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists. The carving-up of a civilization into pieces labelled "nations" is, I believe, something peculiar to students of modern Western history, and, with them too, this present practice of theirs is only recent. Down to the beginning of the eighteenth century the classic works of Western historians took for their field the whole history of Western Christendom or even the whole history of the World from the creation to the Last Judgement.
In Volume 3, I go on to study the growth of a civilization that has succeeded in coming to birth. After growth there comes breakdown and disintegration, but these are the subjects of the second group of volumes, which will follow these first three in the present paperback edition.
#4
A Study of History, Vol 4
1934
Arnold Toynbee writes:
The first three volumes of this work deal with the birth and growth of civilizations; the present three deal with their breakdown and disintegration. Why have some civilizations broken down in the past? I do not believe that civilizations are fated to break down, or that they have a fixed maximum life-span, as organisms have. On this pointand it is one of capital importanceI differ from that great man of genius, Oswald Spengler. I do not believe, either, that civilizations break down through being worsted by their environment. I believe that, when they do break down, the cause is, not some blow from outside, but some inward spiritual failuresome kind of demoralization to which we human beings are not bound to succumb and for which we ourselves therefore bear the responsibility. We can become demoralized by success. This may make us lazy or self-satisfied or conceited. We may be intoxicated with the pride that goes before a fall.
Breakdowns are not inevitable and not irretrievable; but, if the process of disintegration is allowed to continue, it seems to follow patterns that make their appearance in a number of different cases. In a disintegrating society, the masses become estranged from the leaders, and these then try to cling to their position by using force as a substitute for their lost power of attraction. The society splits up into a dominant minority, an internal proletariat, and an external proletariat consisting of the barbarians on its fringes. There is a corresponding psychological schism in the souls of people who happen to have been born into a disintegrating society. Discordant psychic tendencies which are perhaps always latent in human nature now find free play. People try to escape from an intolerable present into an idealized past or into an imaginary future. Greater souls try to detach themselves from life; still greater souls try to transfigure life into something spiritually higher than mere life as we know it on Earth.
#5
A Study of History, Vol 5
1939
Arnold Toynbee writes:
The first three volumes of this work deal with the birth and growth of civilizations; the present three deal with their breakdown and disintegration. Why have some civilizations broken down in the past? I do not believe that civilizations are fated to break down, or that they have a fixed maximum life-span, as organisms have. On this point—and it is one of capital importance—I differ from that great man of genius, Oswald Spengler. I do not believe, either, that civilizations break down through being worsted by their environment. I believe that, when they do break down, the cause is, not some blow from outside, but some inward spiritual failure—some kind of demoralization to which we human beings are not bound to succumb and for which we ourselves therefore bear the responsibility. We can become demoralized by success. This may make us lazy or self-satisfied or conceited. We may be intoxicated with the pride that goes before a fall.
#6
A Study of History, Vol 6
The Disintegrations of Civilizations 2
1939
#8
A Study of History, Vol 8
1954
s/t: Encounters between Contemporaries
#9
A Study of History, Vol 9 - Contacts between Civilizations in Time (Renaissances); Law and Freedom in History; The Prospects of the Western Civilization
1954
Contacts between Civilizations in Time/Renaissances/Law & Freedom/The Prospects of Civilization
#12
A Study of History, Vol 12
1961
Philosophical considerations. The inadequacy of our means of thought; The relativity of a human observer's approach to human affairs
Reconsiderations of structural problems. The problem of quantity in the study of human affairs; The need for a comprehensive study of human affairs; The problem of organizing a comprehensive study of human affairs
Reconsiderations of particular topics. Explanations & revisions of usages of terms; The relation between man & his environment; The transitional societies; Originality vs mimesis; The configuration of Middle American & Andean history; Rome's place in history; The configuration of Syriac history; Islam's place in history; The history & prospects of the Jews; The history & prospects of the West; Russia's place in history; A resurvey of civilizations; The next ledge; Annex: ad hominem; Annex: is there any master-activity in human affairs?; Annex: comment by Rabbi J.B. Agus on Professor Toynbee's use of the term "fossil" with reference to the Jewish community; Annex: comments by Rabbi J.B. Agus on the notion of uniqueness; Annex: comments by Rabbi J.B. Agus on the continuity of the prophetic element in Judaism; Annex: Spengler's concept of pseudomorphosis
Author
Arnold Joseph Toynbee
Author · 28 books
The British historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee was born in London on 14 April 1889 and died on 22 October 1975 in York, North Yorkshire, England. He was educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford. He was the nephew of economic historian Arnold Toynbee, with whom he is sometimes confused. His first marriage to Rosalind Murray, with whom he had three sons, ended in divorce in 1946. Professor Toynbee then married Veronica M. Boulter, his research assistant. From 1919 to 1924 Arnold J. Toynbee was professor of modern Greek and Byzantine history at King's College, London. From 1925 until 1955 Professor Toynbee served as research professor and Director of Studies at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. During both world wars he worked for the British Foreign Office. He was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. While Professor Toynbee's Gifford Lectures were published as An Historian's Approach to Religion (1956) he is best known for his 12-volume A Study of History (1934-1961). This massive work examined the growth, development and decay of civilizations. He presented history as the rise and fall of civilizations rather than nation-states or ethnic groups. According to his analysis of civilizations the well-being of a civilization depends on its ability to deal successfully with challenges. Professor Toynbee oversaw the publication of The Survey of International Affairs published by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs from 1925 to 1977. In addition to A Study of History among his numerous publications are the following: Nationality and the War (1915), The Armenian Atrocities: The Murder of a Nation (1915), The German Terror in France: An Historical Record (1917), Turkey, a Past and a Future (1917), The Conduct of British Empire Foreign Relations since the Peace Settlement (1928), Civilization on Trial (1948), Christianity among the Religions of the World (1958), Democracy in the Atomic Age (1957), and Between Niger and Nile (1965).
