Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries

Abstract

An old adage says that each generation must write his-tory for itself. If the adage is true, then it would also be true that each generation must teach and learn history for itself. The history, of course, does not change, al-though new discoveries come to light all the time. What does change is us, each succeeding generation of us. What causes us to change, and thus to experience and understand history in ever new ways, are the great developments of our own times. Think of the world-changing events of the last century: two world wars, the Great Depression, the cold war, nuclear weapons, the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the ex-plosion in scientific knowledge, and the media revolu-tions involving radio and television, the computer, and the Internet. The pace of change has accelerated in our time, but the process of change always affects people’s view of their world.