Philosophy has often seemed like the castor oil of the disciplines: healthy, but never pleasurable, and best when swallowed quickly and forgotten.

Although this view is understandable, it is regrettable. It isolates intelligent readers from some of the most important thought of Western civilization, much of which underlies our understanding of reality, whether we know it or not.

Will Durant’s classic The Story of Philosophy is a welcome remedy for this misconception, and—in view of the fact that it is nearly 100 years old—a remarkably refreshing one.

Durant does not give the story of philosophy—even Western philosophy—but he does provide a story of philosophy, and an immensely astute, readable, and enjoyable one. He focuses not on schools of thought or subdisciplines, but on the most vigorous, powerful, and appealing thinkers in the Western philosophic tradition, starting with the founding figures of Plato and Aristotle, and taking us through Francis Bacon, the prime theorist of present-day scientific thought, and on to Spinoza, whom Durant prizes above all for his earnest effort to live his own philosophy.

Then Durant proceeds to the wise and witty Voltaire, Nietzsche, whose shadow looms over the history of the twentieth century, and other figures, who are not as well known today as they were when this book was published but retain who vitality and interest.

The Story of Philosophy was first published in 1926, with modest expectations that were soon outgrown. In a few years, it sold 2 million copies. To this day, it is still capturing new readers in America and has found many abroad in translations into Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, French, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, and Swedish.

The Story of Philosophy is a rare treasure. In an age of dumbing down and short attention spans, it provides a sweeping and absorbing history of some of the most important ideas that have ever been formed by human minds. Reading it is an education in itself—and an enjoyable one. It is not to be missed.

This deluxe edition includes The Age of Faith, the fourth volume in the great series, The Story of Civilization. It covers the years 1095—the launching of the First Crusade—and 1300: the age of Dante Alighieri, whose epic poem Divine Comedy is one of the greatest treasures of our civilization.

In between is a drama of world proportions: the struggle between Christendom and Islam over the Holy Land, leading first to warfare, then to interaction; the conflicts between the popes and the Holy Roman Emperors over sacred versus secular power; the brutal suppression of heretics such as the Cathars and Waldensians; and above all, the rise of the Catholic church to spiritual, intellectual, and moral dominance of the whole of Western Europe.

Durant’s history is not just a matter of kings and popes. He delves into the everyday lives of the people of those times, including their dress and entertainments, their morals and manners. He shows how the economic ascent of medieval Europe from the ruins of the Roman Empire created the Western society that we know today. He also describes the class struggles between nobles, merchants, burghers, and peasants as well as verbal portraits of great historical figures: the English archbishop Thomas à Becket, murdered in his own cathedral; Abelard, a subtle theologian undone by his love for his beautiful student Héloïse; Richard the Lion-Heart, king of England, who preferred adventure to the throne; and Dante, who turned the Catholic theology of the Middle Ages into some of the sublimest poetry ever written.