Sources for the History of Western Civilization is a primary source reader designed specifically to allow undergraduate students to interact with historical documents without unnecessary editorial intervention.

Volume I begins in the second millennium BC with The Descent of Ishtar and ends with Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason. New to this edition are an example for students of how to read a primary source, selections from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, additional material from Augustine's Confessions, additional letters from Sidonius Appolinaris and Desiderius Erasmus, and the Code Noir.