FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 26, 2008
Contact: Brandi Pannell
(662) 329-7119

MUW professor’s book receives favorable praise

COLUMBUS, Miss.--Dr. Michael Burger, chair of the Department of History
and Professor of history at Mississippi University for Women, is receiving positive comments on his book titled “The Shaping of Western Civilization.”

The history textbook, set to publish March 31 by Broadview Press and the University of Toronto Press, covers the West and its relations with the non-Western world circa 3000 B.C. to the enlightenment of the 18th century.
 

Burger said he wrote the book because “I was dissatisfied with books for HIS 101 that are very long. Because they try to cover everything under the sun, they don’t say very much about anything.”

He added, “I also wanted a book written to put students in a position to do history themselves, to put them in a position to ask important questions of primary sources and so draw their own conclusions about large historical developments.”

Some of his colleagues agree that he has accomplished his goal.

Elspeth Carruthers of the University of Illinois-Chicago, stated, “Burger manages the impressive feat of elucidating the mentalities of all manner of people in the distant past in language that speaks to the present. In particular, his accounts of medieval Christian outlooks and institutions are concise, lively and compelling. He makes quick sense out of complex historical events that are often difficult to teach, while losing none of the nuances.”

Anthony Perron of Loyola Marymount University added, “…The real merit of this book is that he anchors his narrative in clear arguments offering not merely facts but also interpretations that can themselves stimulate debate and discussion in the classroom…At a time when textbooks are becoming more generic and simplified, this book grapples with the complexity of history with a distinctive voice.”

Shannon McSheffrey, professor of history at Concordia University, said,
“This is my new favorite textbook. It is a truly remarkable achievement: a survey of Western history that is simultaneously brief, accessible, lucid and consistently interesting. Burger shines light on the craft of history itself."

Burger is also editor of “Sources for the History of Western Civilization” and has authored several articles about medieval history.