(Durant and his book: "The Story of Civilization") You may be asking, 'What does Will Durant, the writer of 'The Story of Civilization,' have to do with me, Dennis L. Siluk. It seems he and I had a long relationship, although we've never met one another. Let me first outline in the shortest of terms, Will Durant, and his wife Arial.
Will Durant was born 1885, and died 1981. His most famous writing was that of "The Story of Philosophy," which sold 200,000-copies in the 1920s. He started writing it as chapter, Blue Books, putting them all together between 1923 thru 1926, and making it a volume (it took him three years to write the book).
Between 1915, and 1929, he was dreaming of making a five volume set of history books, mixed with philosophy, in the following years he traveled the world. In 1929 to 1975, he would continue to write an eleven volume set of history books called, "The Story of Civilization." It would remain a ten volume set until 1975, when he finished after four years, writing the 1500-page book which was cut down, on Napoleon.
This was not his last book, rather his Dual Autobiography which took him two years to write, was his last work to my knowledge, published in 1977, and he of course died in 1981, four years thereafter.
The first of his volumes was started six years before its publication date, and were 1,049-pages long, dealing with Oriental History, published in July of 1935.
In 1938, Mr. Durant drafted, or put into an outline form, a ten volume set of history books, yet he had only published one of the ten at this time. He was at this time working on the second volume, dealing with Greece. In 1939, he submitted it for publication. And then started work on Volume three, in 1943, and finished it in 1945, dealing with Christ and Caesar; after that, in the same year he started work on The Age of Faith, volume four.
To make a long story short, this is how his set of historical books progressed from 1926 to 1967, and his then their was a gap of 8-years, to 1975, abd then two years to write his last book published in 1977. His wife died Oct 25, 1981, and Will died Nov 7, 1981, 13-days difference (Ariel was 83 years old when she died, Will, 96). But now I want to incorporate my relationship with his books which date back to 1971, or 36-years ago for me.
(Dennis Siluk's Connection) I was going over and over in my head about the set of history books by Mr. and Mrs. Durant, and it came to mind, I had a history with all this, with him, even though he did not know it. Matter of fact, we had a history for ten-years while he was living, between 1971, to his death in 1981. Let me explain.
When I got out of the Army, and Vietnam, in 1971, I went back home to St. Paul, Minnesota. I had not gone to college yet, but I wanted to. Thus I bought a set of Mr. Durant's "The Story of Civilization." I read most of it, and got the travel bug, although I always had it. I had been to Asia, and Europe, and Mexico and Canada. But not yet to such places as Java, and Egypt, India, Cambodia, etcetera. I suppose his books would provoke a side of me to those countries, since now I have gone to them, plus fifty- five other countries, and forty-six states. Actually, most of the places Mr. Durant traveled I traveled, and you might even add a few more.
The point I want to make is this, I bought this set of books in 1971, at that time it was a nine or ten volume set. Then in 1973, I moved from Minnesota to Erie, Pennsylvania, I had sold the previous set, feeling I could not travel with such a load, I had a 1965-Ford Galaxy, and it was just enough room for my two young kids, Cody and Shawn, and my ex wife now, of that time. Thus, in 1973 I bought my second volume, but only had it for a year, I went back into the Army, and back to Germany in 1974. In 1975, I ordered a new set to be sent to me in Germany, and to my surprise, it was now an eleven volume set, Will Durant with Ariel his wife had added the times of Napoleon to it. I remember hoping he'd do one more leading into the twentieth century, but I guess it world have taken perhaps three volumes to do that, and he was aging, I mean, in 1975 he was 90-years old, and started working on his dual autobiography.
Well, it didn't stop there, I left Germany and the Army in 1980, and again, lost track of my set of history books by Durant, and in 1981 ordered a new set while doing graduate studies at the University of Minnesota I kept that set until 2005, when I sent 500- books from my Minnesota Library to Lima Peru, for my new library in my home there, the books never made it, I had sold them to a friend, and they were too heavy. Anyhow, that was my forth set.
Now it is 2007, and I have ordered my 5th set, along with his Autobiography, and 'The Story of Philosophy' thus I once again will have my whole set intact.
It is funny how things work out. I never had a signed book by him, but now I got one, that also is a treasure. So I hope this little essay, if anything, has inspirited you to read whatever your heart desires, it is for me the best past time in the world, and his history of civilization, is unique.
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