The Great Shadow
A History of How Sickness Shapes What We Do, Think, Believe, and Buy
“[A] splendid examination…Deeply insightful if unsettling.” Kirkus
What did it feel like to be a woman or man struggling with illness in ancient times, in the Middle Ages, in the seventeenth century, or in 1920? And how did that shape our thoughts and convictions? The Great Shadow uses extensive historical research and first-person accounts to tell a vivid story about sickness and our responses to it, from very ancient times until the last decade. In the process of writing, historian Susan Wise Bauer reveals just how many of our current fads and causes are rooted in the moment-by-moment experience of sickness?from the search for a balanced lifestyle to plug-in air fresheners and bare hardwood floors. We can’t simply shout facts at people who refuse vaccinations, believe that immigrants carry diseases, or insist that God will look out for them during a pandemic. We have to enter with imagination, historical perspective, and empathy into their world. The Great Shadow does just that with page-turning flair.
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St. Martin’s Press 2026 ISBN 978-1250272911
The History of the Ancient World
From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
“Bauer’s elegant prose and her command of much of the material makes this a wonderful starting point for the study of the ancient world.” Publisher’s Weekly
“Bauer’s annals, which span the millennia between the traces of Sumer and the Roman emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in 312 CE, are an attractive introduction to a subject vast in time and geography. She writes briskly and interpretively, and is attuned throughout to the challenge of rulers: appearing to the ruled as legitimate holders of power. This sensibility makes her narratives acutely interesting, as Bauer pierces the biases inherent in most ancient sources to discern the sincerity or the cynicism with which power seekers pursued their goals. Above, approval of the divine was invaluable; on Earth, a loyal army was indispensable. Acquiring both enabled lawgivers to make their writ stick, and Bauer’s chronicles exhibit the interaction of priestly, military, and legal powers as empires and dynasties wax and wane. This endows continuity to her accounts of polities as disparate as the Harappan civilization of the Indus River or the states that emerged from misty prehistory along the Yellow and Yangtze rivers to form China. Nonacademic and sometimes colloquial in composition, Bauer’s survey will spark the imagination.” (Booklist)
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WW Norton 2007 ISBN 978-0393059748
The History of the Medieval World
From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade
“[A] witty and well-written examination of world history…rich in detail and intriguing in anecdotal information. ” Publisher’s Weekly
“In describing dramatic events (such as the worldwide –impact of the eruption of Krakatoa in 535 C.E., or civil war among the descendants of Charlemagne), near-legendary individuals (like the great general turned mercenary El Cid), and decisive historical movements from the fourth century C.E. to the beginnings of the 12th century, attention is effectively paid not only to western and eastern Europe but to North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Far East, South Asia, and the Americas. The political and military rise and fall of rulers or would-be rulers and the prominence of religion in matters of conscience and state give force and power to the narrative as does the constant impact of simple human emotion and ambition on the flow of history. A bit overwhelming in its scope, Bauer’s work nevertheless proves perfectly, and entertainingly, that the ‘more things change, the more they stay the same.’” Publishers Weekly.
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WW Norton 2010, ISBN 978-0393059755
The History of the Renaissance World
From the
“Another expertly clarified primer by Bauer organizes by themes the chaos of the medieval world into a semblance of cohesive law, migratory logic and religious fervor that would later explode into the Renaissance. The author has an excellent eye for presenting her subject in bold strokes, memorable themes and without undue clutter.” Kirkus
Beginning in the heady days just after the First Crusade, this volume?the third in the series that began with The History of the Ancient World and The History of the Medieval World?chronicles the contradictions of a world in transition. Popes continue to preach crusade, but the hope of a Christian empire comes to a bloody end at the walls of Constantinople. Aristotelian logic and Greek rationality blossom while the Inquisition gathers strength. As kings and emperors continue to insist on their divine rights, ordinary people all over the world seize power: the lingayats of India, the Jacquerie of France, the Red Turbans of China, and the peasants of England.
New threats appear, as the Ottomans emerge from a tiny Turkish village and the Mongols ride out of the East to set the world on fire. New currencies are forged, new weapons invented, and world-changing catastrophes alter the landscape: the Little Ice Age and the Great Famine kill millions; the Black Death, millions more. In the chaos of these epoch-making events, our own world begins to take shape.
Impressively researched and brilliantly told, The History of the Renaissance World offers not just the names, dates, and facts but the memorable characters who illuminate the years between 1100 and 1453?years that marked a sea change in mankind’s perception of the world.
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W. W. Norton 2013 ISBN 978-0393059762
The Well-Educated Mind
A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had
“A brilliant guide. … A timeless, intelligent book.” Publisher’s Weekly
Have you lost the art of reading for pleasure? Are there books you know you should read but haven’t because they seem too daunting? In The Well-Educated Mind, Susan Wise Bauer provides a welcome and encouraging antidote to the distractions of our age, electronic and otherwise. The revised and expanded edition of The Well-Educated Mind offers brief, entertaining histories of six literary genres — fiction, autobiography, history, drama, poetry, and science–accompanied by detailed instructions on how to read each type. The Well-Educated Mind reassures those readers who worry that they read too slowly or with below-average comprehension. If you can understand a daily newspaper, there’s no reason you can’t read and enjoy Shakespeare’s sonnets or Jane Eyre. For more, visit www.well-educatedmind.com.
WW Norton 2015 ISBN 978-0393080964
The Well-Trained Mind
A Guide to Classical Education at Home
“Outstanding … should be on every home educator’s reference bookshelf.” Homeschooling Today
Is your child getting lost in the system, becoming bored, losing his or her natural eagerness to learn? If so, it may be time to take charge of your child’s education by doing it yourself. This book will instruct you, step by step, on how to give your child an academically rigorous, comprehensive education from preschool through high school–one that will train him or her to read, to think, to understand, to be well-rounded and curious about learning.
First published in 1999 and now in its fifth edition, The Well-Trained Mind outlines the classical pattern of education called the trivium, which organizes learning around the maturing capacity of the child’s mind. Thousands of parents and teachers have already used the methods decribed in The Well-Trained Mind to create a truly superior education for the children in their care. This newly-revised edition contains completely updated ordering information for all curricula and books, new and expanded curricula recommendations, new material on using computers and distance learning resources, answers to common questions about home education, information about educational support groups, and advice on practical matters such as working with your local school board, preparing a high school transcript, and applying to colleges. The Well-Trained Mind will give you the tools you need to teach your child with confidence and success.
For more, visit www.welltrainedmind.com.
WW Norton 2024 (Essential 5th Edition), ISBN 978-1324073734
The Story of the World Series
A narrative history of the world, written for grades K-8
“The best multi-age read aloud narrative of world history yet to have been written.” Homeschooling in Japan
Told in the straightforward, engaging style that has become Susan Wise Bauer’s trademark, The Story of the World covers the sweep of human history from ancient times until the present. Africa, China, Europe, the Americas–find out what happened around the world in the centuries before our own. This read-aloud series is designed for parents to share with elementary-school children, or for older readers to enjoy alone. Introduce your child to the marvelous story of the world’s civilizations! Over a million copies now in print. For more on the four-volume series and accompanying volumes, visit https://welltrainedmind.com/c/series/the-story-of-the-world/.