The hidden heritage; a rediscovery of the ideas and forces that link the thought of our time with the culture of the past / John Howard Lawson.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 533-560) and index.

Part 1. The decline of Catholic power 1075-1434: 1. The cathedral -- 2. Heresy -- 3. The people and the multitude -- 4. The fishmonger's cutlass -- 5. Sacred and profane love -- 6. The ashes of John Huss --

Part II. The challenge of humanism 1450-1600: 1. Mona Lisa -- 2. The union shoe -- 3. The feast of fools -- 4. The more family -- 5. Servetus at Geneva -- 6. Shakespeare and the famine years --

Part III. The colonial pattern 1492-1600: 1. Paradise -- 2. The first utopia -- 3. Anathema -- 4. The plumed serpent -- 5. Slave market -- 6. The twilight of the conquistadors -- 7. The protestant pirates -- 8. The potato --

Part IV. The European background of English colonization 1593-1607: 1. Prologue in Venice -- 2. A letter to the pope -- 3. A shipment of currents -- 4. The case of John Smith -- 5. Jamestown and Moscow -- 6. Malthus and the Midland Riots --

Part V. The European background of English colonization 1607-1618: 1. Coriolanus -- 2. The buried weapons -- 3. Myth and Money -- 4. The opera -- 5. The beginnings of the novel -- 6. The corporation -- 7. Brave new world -- 8. Land of Cockaigne -- 9. The fishermen --

Part VI. The English colonies 1618-1628: 1. The first slave ship -- 2. The accident of the wind -- 3. Thomas Weston's pilgrimage -- 4. The maypole on Boston bay.

"Here is a history which catches the vast sweep and movement of the cultural, economic, political, and social forces which relate Europe, Africa, and Asia to the Western Hemisphere and which link the ancient Mediterranean world with the world of today and tomorrow. It moves swiftly through the centuries from the decline of Catholic power and carries the reader through the Renaissance, the Reformation, the impact of colonialism on both the New World and the Old, and the rise of the middle class. It explores thoroughly such varied subjects as the Peasants Revolt in Germany, Sacred and Profane Love, Shakespeare and the Famine Years, the Twilight of the Conquistadors, The Novel and The Opera, John Smith and Pocahontas, and the Maypole on Boston Bay. Mr. Lawson sees history as mire than a succession of dates and skirmishes. He is primarily concerned with the lost history of ideas and forces that have shaped our culture and with the perennial clash between the forces of reaction and those which stand for progress. With this thought in mind, the author has written the story in terms of the major problems that confront mankind today - peace or war, human rights or monopoly power, social cooperation or rugged individualism, full production or industrial depression, and many others. This is no dry academic history. Intensely fascinating, beautifully written by one of America's outstanding writers and richly rewarding, The Hidden Heritage is a new kind of history. It is a revelation and a challenge, a guide to action in a period when the fate of man and his present-day civilization are at stake." -- From the book jacket.

Contains 1950s language terms used to describe racial groups that are offensive.