++cultural histories++ are histories of the arts, ideas, themes and memes that shared by groups of people, usually in geographic proximity. one very good book on western cultural history is by <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/65/ba/Barzun-J.html"> jaques barzun </a>, a very old man who had alot of time to think about what he had learned. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060928832/103-5716056-6750252"> from dawn to decadence </a> 1500 to the present - 500 years of western cultural history. <BR> another is walter truett anderson's <a href="http://www.waltanderson.info/work6.htm"> reality isn't what it used to be</a> Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature. -G.B. Shaw, <I>Caesar and Cleopatra</I>