Preface
This postlude needs little preface. After finishing The Story of
Civilization to 1789, we reread the ten volumes with a view to issuing a
revised edition that would correct many errors of omission, fact, or print. In
that process we made note of events and comments that might illuminate
present affairs, future probabilities, the nature of man, and the conduct of
states. (The references, in the text, to various volumes of the Story are
offered not as authorities but as instances or elucidations so come upon.)
We tried to defer our conclusions until we had completed our survey of the
narrative, but doubtless our preformed opinions influenced our selection of
illustrative material. The following essay is the result. It repeats many ideas
that we, or others before us, have already expressed; our aim is not
originality but inclusiveness; we offer a survey of human experience, not a
personal revelation.
Here, as so often in the past, we must gratefully acknowledge the help
and counsel given us by our daughter Ethel.
WILL and ARIEL DURANT.
