Civilisation: A Personal View Paperback – 15 Aug. 2005

I already knew the video related to this book, and I decided to have the book too. I find it very deep in its enquiry. A great book. Paolo

CivilisationTurn on any TV these days and there will be channels with one of more history or arts programmes. Some 49 years ago a second BBC TV channel was born (BBC2) – in colour , 625 not 405 lines – and the first of a series of blockbuster arts and science programmes were born as part of this channels remit.In 1969 (Lord) Kenneth Clark presented “ Civilisation” – a personal view – covering Art , Architecture , Industrial developments and intellectual ideas of the Western world ( sadly no space for Eastern civilisations in a series of this length ) from the fall of the Roman Empire to the ( then) present day in 13 x 1h programmes. A book of the series was also written albeit (despite being based on the scripts of the series ) somewhat less detailed. The hardback book contains both script and illustrations and can be obtained as good quality second hand ,for very reasonable prices. There are now paperback versions available without the illustrations ( which were a mixture of colour and B/W plates) .A book allows stopping , pausing , thinking , reversing and rereading.For those who want the full experience ( film/TV presentation being intrinsically different to books with the sight , sounds , narration and a flowing story line to hold the attention) there is a DVD transfer copy .The quality is reasonable given the date but may not be to the taste of everyone brought up on Digital sharpness and Colour Quality. There is considerable medieval music as a background in between the narrationI can still recommend both as an example of the thoughts and presentation of the times

Utterly fantastic! Unbelievable and totally loveley. I'll have to read it again, soon, it's very rich and needs lots of attention.

No, It’s not as good as the TV series and rates 4 rather than 5 stars because it reads like what it is, a series of individual scripts. But it’s a good book nevertheless. Clark’s personal view it may be but that’s what art is about.

This is the transcript of the TV series, well written, dense in facts, a great addition for when you have watched an episode of the TV series to consolidate the story.

Civilisation is a classic. It provides not just a personal view but a review that is scholarly and immensely readable

It's great to have this wonderful book back in our collection. It's in excellent condition and cost SO little, especially for the hard back edition

I had the original hardback version, complete with photos, but it went mouldy after a storage disaster. I bought this thinking it was a paperback version, but instead it is a text only version. The original hardback version, like the TV series, was breathtaking, but this paperback version is a sadly diminished cousin.It is still a thoroughly good read and a brilliantly written tour of European art, but without the photos it is a pale substitute. If anybody prints the hardback version I'd be first in line.