You’ve probably seen them. Those thick, tan-spined volumes occupying a yard and a half of shelf space in every used bookstore in America. They look daunting. Some people buy them just for the aesthetic, honestly. But if you actually crack open The Story of Civilization by Will Durant (and his wife Ariel), you aren't just reading history. You're basically getting a front-row seat to the entire human drama, narrated by a guy who writes like a poet and thinks like a philosopher.
It took fifty years. Think about that. Will and Ariel Durant spent half a century—from 1935 to 1975—distilling thousands of years of human chaos into eleven massive volumes. It’s an insane achievement. In an era of "TikTok-length" attention spans, the idea of sitting down with 10,000 pages might seem ridiculous. Yet, these books are selling better than ever on the secondhand market. Why? Because Durant didn’t just list dates and kings. He looked for the soul of humanity.
What Most People Get Wrong About The Story of Civilization
Modern historians kinda hate these books. They’ll tell you they’re "outdated" or "too Eurocentric." And look, they have a point. If you want the most recent archaeological data on the Tang Dynasty or the latest carbon-dating results from Mesoamerica, you shouldn't go to Durant. He was writing before the digital revolution and before a lot of modern sociological frameworks existed.
But here’s the thing: those critics often miss the forest for the trees.
Durant wasn’t trying to be a specialist. He famously called himself a "total historian." He believed you couldn't understand a period’s politics without also understanding its music, its kitchen habits, its sexual morals, and its religious superstitions. He wanted to weave it all together. When you read the volume Our Oriental Heritage, you aren't just getting a timeline of India or China; you're getting an explanation of how their philosophy shaped their destiny.
He didn't care about dry facts. He cared about the why.
The Scale of the Work
Let’s talk numbers, but briefly.
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- Our Oriental Heritage (1935)
- The Life of Greece (1939)
- Caesar and Christ (1944)
- The Age of Faith (1950)
- The Renaissance (1953)
- The Reformation (1957)
- The Age of Reason Begins (1961)
- The Age of Louis XIV (1963)
- The Age of Voltaire (1965)
- Rousseau and Revolution (1967)
- The Age of Napoleon (1975)
Notice a gap? They never finished. The original plan was to reach the 20th century, but the Durants simply ran out of time. They died within weeks of each other in 1981, leaving the story at the doorstep of the modern world. It’s poetic, in a way. History never actually ends.
Why You Should Actually Care in 2026
We live in a very "now" focused world. Everything is a crisis. Everything is "unprecedented." But if you read The Story of Civilization by Will Durant, you realize that almost nothing is actually unprecedented.
The inflation that rocked Rome? We’ve seen that movie. The radical skepticism of the Enlightenment that tore down old religious structures? We’re living in its sequel. Durant shows us that human nature is the constant variable in the equation of history. He writes with this incredible perspective—sorta like an old man looking back at his own life, but instead, he’s looking back at everyone’s life.
His prose is the real hook. Most history books are about as exciting to read as a toaster manual. Durant is different. He drops lines that make you stop and stare at the wall for five minutes. Take this one: "A nation is born stoic and dies epicurean." That’s not just a fact; it’s a psychological profile of an entire empire. He argues that civilizations start with hard work and discipline and eventually collapse into luxury and laziness. It’s a recurring theme throughout the volumes.
The Ariel Factor
For a long time, Will got all the credit. But starting with the seventh volume, Ariel Durant’s name was added to the cover. She wasn't just an assistant; she was a partner. She brought a specific sharp, social eye to the project that balanced Will’s more philosophical bent. They were a powerhouse couple. They actually won the Pulitzer Prize for Rousseau and Revolution in 1968.
Their relationship is part of the charm of the series. You can feel the warmth and the humanism in the writing. They loved humanity, even while documenting all our wars, inquisitions, and failures.
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The Problem of "Perspective"
Is the series biased? Yes. Of course it is.
Every historian has a lens. Durant was a product of the mid-20th century. He was a humanist and a liberal (in the classical sense). He tended to prioritize the "Great Man" theory of history more than modern academics do. He believed that individuals like Leonardo da Vinci or Napoleon really did bend the arc of history through sheer will.
Today, we tend to look more at "systems"—economics, climate, and demographics. But there is something deeply refreshing about Durant’s focus on genius and creativity. He celebrates the high points of the human spirit. He makes you feel like being human is actually a pretty big deal.
"Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks."
That quote basically sums up his whole vibe. He’s looking at the builders, not just the destroyers.
How to Actually Read This Behemoth
Don't start at page one of Volume One and try to marathon it. You'll burn out by the time you hit the Sumerians.
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The best way to tackle The Story of Civilization by Will Durant is to treat it like a reference library. Interested in the Borgias? Grab The Renaissance. Curious about why the French Revolution got so bloody? Dive into Rousseau and Revolution.
Each book stands alone.
If you want the "cliffsnotes" version, the Durants wrote a tiny little book called The Lessons of History. It’s only about 100 pages. They wrote it after finishing the tenth volume as a way to summarize everything they’d learned. It’s basically a cheat code for understanding human behavior. It covers biology and history, religion and history, and even the "cycles" of wealth concentration.
Specific Insights from the Series
- The Cycle of Wealth: Durant observes that wealth naturally concentrates in a society until it reaches a point where it must be redistributed—either through legislation or through violent revolution.
- Religion’s Role: He wasn't particularly religious himself, but he argued that religion is a necessary tool for social cohesion. Without it, he believed, morality often becomes a matter of "every man for himself."
- The Fragility of Culture: He shows over and over how easily high art and deep thought can be wiped out by a single generation of neglect or a few years of barbarian invasion.
The Lasting Legacy
Will Durant died at 96. Ariel died at 83. They spent their final days surrounded by their books in their home in Los Angeles. When they started the project, the world was entering the Great Depression. When they finished, man had walked on the moon.
Their work hasn't been replaced because nobody else is crazy enough to try it. No modern scholar has the audacity (or the lifespan) to write a narrative history of everything. Today, everything is hyper-specialized. We have historians who spend forty years studying the tax records of one town in 14th-century France. We need those people. But we also need the Durants. We need someone to pull back the camera and show us the whole map.
The Story of Civilization reminds us that we are part of a long, messy, beautiful chain. We aren't the first people to feel anxious about the future. We aren't the first to deal with a changing climate or a shifting political landscape.
Reading these books gives you a weird kind of peace. It’s "historical perspective." You realize that while empires fall, the "banks of the stream"—the art, the families, the inventions—usually find a way to survive.
Actionable Steps for the Aspiring Reader
- Audit your shelf: Don't buy the whole set at once. Go to a used bookstore and find Volume III (Caesar and Christ). It’s widely considered one of the best.
- Read the "Lessons": Start with The Lessons of History. If that doesn't hook you, the main series won't either. It's the litmus test.
- Listen while you work: There are incredible audiobook versions narrated by Grover Gardner. Since Durant wrote in a very rhythmic, conversational style, hearing it aloud is often better than reading it.
- Contextualize: Use a modern map while you read. Durant talks about geography a lot, and seeing how ancient borders align with modern ones (like the Persian Empire vs. modern Iran) makes the stakes feel real.
- Skip the boring parts: Seriously. If you aren't interested in 50 pages about 18th-century French playwrights you've never heard of, flip the page. The Durants won't mind. They wrote for the curious layman, not the academic gatekeeper.
The reality is that history isn't a straight line. It’s a circle. Or maybe a spiral. By spending time with the Durants, you stop being a victim of the present moment and start becoming a citizen of all time. That’s a pretty good deal for the price of a used hardcover.