This book brings together an impressive range of knowledge of Western civilization from the ancient cultures of the Near East, through the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds, to the Middle Ages, the Reformation, the Renaissance, the Age of Reason, and the twentieth century. Throughout, Crane Brinton searches human history for the meaning century ethics. A History of Western Morals reaches many controversial conclusions about the value of religion in society, the practices of sex, the nature of crime, and the possibility of progress.