Humanities, The: Culture, Continuity, and Change, Volume 2, 4th edition

Published by Pearson (February 5, 2018) © 2019
Henry M. Sayre

Title overview

For courses in Introduction to the Humanities.

See context and make connections across the humanities

The Humanities: Culture, Continuity and Change leads students on a journey through countless “ah-ha” moments as they piece together the cultural history of the world. Author Henry Sayre believes that students learn best by remembering stories rather than memorizing facts. To this end, he deftly conveys multifaceted cultural experiences via a storytelling approach that students will remember, during the course and beyond.

The 4th Edition offers analysis of recent works such as Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton: An American Musical to show how course concepts can illuminate contemporary art.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Continuity and Change essays at the end of each chapter illustrate the influence of 1 cultural period upon another, and show cultural changes over time.
  • Learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter identify the key topics, and remind students of the goals of study as they progress through each chapter.
  • Organized around these same learning objectives, chapter review sections revisit the material covered in the chapter, and pose critical-thinking questions.

New and updated features of this title

  • UPDATED: More than 300 images have been updated whenever new and improved images were available or works of art have been cleaned or restored.
  • NEW: In order to keep text content fresh, many new works of art have been added. These include the Inca twelve-angle stone in Cuzco, Raphael's Sistine Madonna and Balla's Speeding Automobile.
  • UPDATED: New and updated examples include discussion of the earliest musical instruments, continuing research at Stonehenge and the workings of the Dutch East India Company in Indonesia.
  • UPDATED: In Chapter 26, the discussion of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist papers has been greatly expanded in order to provide perspective on the current popularity of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton: An American Musical.
  • UPDATED: Chapter 40 on contemporary art has been thoroughly reconceived, with many new images. Fresh and updated content addresses issues of postcolonialism, the global marketplace and the commodification of culture, the plural self in the Americas, and the impact of new media.

Key features

Highlights of the DIGITAL UPDATE for Revel (available for Spring 2024 classes)

Instructors, contact your sales rep to ensure you have the most recent version of the course.

  • UPDATED: The Digital Update offers fresh discussions of contemporary topics as well as more than 75 new images. Highlights include:
    • A new section on slavery in the industrial, as opposed to agricultural, South
    • New coverage of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1919 to 1921, including works by William Carlos Williams and Katherine Anne Porter
    • Discussions of Rap as a phenomenon (focused on Jay-Z) and the #MeToo movement

Features of Revel for the 4th Edition; published 2018

  • Closer Looks and Continuing Presence of the Past features take students through a detailed video examination of the work.
  • 3D animations  of architectural and art historical techniques depict and explain processes and methods that are difficult for students to grasp simply through narrative text.
  • Panoramas from global sites bring students into the setting, both inside and out, of major buildings and monuments such as the Taj Mahal and Great Zimbabwe.
  • Pan/zoom functionality  along with scale markers invite students to look closely at particular artworks.
  • Embedded listening guides  with streaming audio for most of the music selections allow students to follow along as they listen.

Table of contents

PART IV: EXCESS, INQUIRY, AND RESTRAINT, 1600-1800
21. The Baroque in Italy: The Church and Its Appeal
22. The Secular Baroque in the North: The Art of Observation
23. The Baroque Court: Absolute Power and Royal Patronage
24. The Rise of the Enlightenment in England: The Claims of Reason
25. The Rococo and the Enlightenment on the Continent: Privilege and Reason
26. The Rights of Man: Revolution and the Neoclassical Style

PART V: ROMANTICISM, REALISM, AND EMPIRE, 1800-1900
27. The Romantic World View: The Self in Nature and the Nature of Self
28. Industry and the Working Class: A New Realism
29. Defining a Nation: American National Identity and the Challenge of Civil War
30. Global Confrontation and Modern Life: The Quest for Cultural Identity
31. The Promise of Renewal: Hope and Possibility in Late Nineteenth-Century Europe
32. The Course of Empire: Expansion and Conflict in America
33. The Fin de Siècle: Toward the Modern

PART VI: MODERNISM AND THE GLOBALIZATION OF CULTURES, 1900 TO THE PRESENT
34. The Era of Invention: Paris and the Modern World
35. The Great War and Its Impact: A Lost Generation and a New Imagination
36. New York, Skyscraper Culture, and the Jazz Age: Making It New
37. The Age of Anxiety: Fascism and Depression, Holocaust and Bomb
38. After the War: Existential Doubt, Artistic Triumph, and the Culture of Consumption
39. Multiplicity and Diversity: Cultures of Liberation and Identity in the 1960s and 1970s
40. Without Boundaries: Multiple Meanings in a Postmodern World

Author bios

About our authors

Henry M. Sayre is Distinguished Professor of Art History at Oregon State University, Cascades Campus in Bend, Oregon. He earned his Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Washington. He is producer and creator of the 10-part television series, A World of Art: Works in Progress, aired on PBS in the fall of 1997; and author of 7 books, including A World of Art, The Visual Text of William Carlos Williams, The Object of Performance: The American Avante-Garde since 1970; and an art history book for children, Cave Paintings to Picasso.

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