1968 The Lessons of History Will & Ariel Durant HC/DJ

Black cloth hardcover with gilt spine lettering in original unclipped dust jacket designed by Jeanyee Wong, featuring photography by Bill Ray for Life magazine. Octavo, 117 pages including bibliographical guide, notes, and index. A concise distillation of the Durants' monumental eleven-volume Story of Civilization, this work attempts to extract enduring patterns from human history across subjects including war, economics, religion, race, government, and social development. Written near the completion of their life's work, the book became one of the couple's most widely read standalone titles and remains influential among readers of philosophy, political thought, and historiography. The text combines historical synthesis with aphoristic observations, presenting the Durants' reflections on recurring themes in civilization and human behavior. Condition: Very Good book in Very Good dust jacket. Binding remains square and solid with clean black cloth boards and bright gilt spine titling. Interior notably clean with no ownership marks, underlining, or bookplates observed. Light age toning to endpapers and textblock edges consistent with age. Dust jacket unclipped and substantially complete, showing moderate edgewear, several short tears and small chips along the upper edges and spine head, plus mild rubbing and creasing. Jacket now presents well and retains strong color saturation. Book Club Edition (BCE), likely an early BOMC issue produced from first-printing sheets or plates of the 1968 Simon & Schuster first edition. Book Club Edition identifiable by unpriced jacket and blind embossed square on rear board Will Durant (1885-1981) and Ariel Durant (1898-1981) were American historians and philosophers best known for The Story of Civilization, an expansive multivolume history published over four decades. Their collaborative work earned both the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and they remain among the twentieth century's most widely read popular historians. …