This book is an adaptation of the Portland Community College textbook “Western Civilization: A Concise History” (which can be found at https://www.pcc.edu/staff/christopher-brooks3/) and was written by Dr. Christopher Brooks.  We have adapted Volume 1 (version 2.5, released in September 2021) and Volume 2, (version 2.0, released in Winter 2020) for this version to better fit a traditional 16-week semester schedule.  Western Civilization: A Concise History by Portland Community College is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

We would like to wholeheartedly thank Dr. Brooks, Portland Community College, and Open Oregon for their work in this area of open educational resources.

The following changes were made to this book as a whole:

• Minor errors in grammar, punctuation, and formatting were corrected.
• Minor edits for readability and clarity were made where necessary (e.g., rewording of a sentence or eliminating extraneous biographical details).
• Where archaic or outdated terms were used in the original (e.g., “Barbarians”), they were replaced with more up-to-date or appropriate terms.  The original terms are introduced and explained in other ways where appropriate.
• Interactive HP5 elements were added to each chapter to increase student engagement and retention of materials.
•  A glossary function was added, which shows definitions when students hover their mouse over a term. Glossary definitions are adapted from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and from Encyclopedia Britannica.
• People, places, and works of note were linked to their page in Encyclopedia Britannica online.

The following changes were made to specific chapters:

• Volume 1, Chapter 1: A note on the term “barbarians” was included to introduce students to this term while giving context to how the term has been used historically. This term was replaced with “foreigners” throughout the book.
• Volume 1, Chapter 8: A note on Celtic peoples was adapted from the original text.
• Volume 1, Chapter 10: Several sections, including those on “Early Christianity,” “Christianity’s Relationship with Non-Christian Religions,” and “Orthodoxy and Heresy” were substantially edited for length, simplicity, and readability. A note on the term “barbarians” was adapted and moved to Chapter 1, and a note on Arianism was adapted from the edited text. A note on the term “cult” was added.
• Volume 2, Chapter 2:  The map of the Carolingian Empire was replaced with a simpler map for readability.