An Essay on Mr. Will Durant

(Durant and his book: "The Story of Civilization")ten-years while he was living, between 1971, to
You may be asking, 'What does Will Durant, thehis death in 1981. Let me explain.
writer of 'The Story of Civilization,' have to doWhen I got out of the Army, and Vietnam, in
with me, Dennis L. Siluk. It seems he and I had a1971, I went back home to St. Paul, Minnesota. I
long relationship, although we've never met onehad not gone to college yet, but I wanted to.
another. Let me first outline in the shortest ofThus I bought a set of Mr. Durant's "The Story of
terms, Will Durant, and his wife Arial.Civilization." I read most of it, and got the travel
Will Durant was born 1885, and died 1981. Hisbug, although I always had it. I had been to Asia,
most famous writing was that of "The Story ofand Europe, and Mexico and Canada. But not yet
Philosophy," which sold 200,000-copies in theto such places as Java, and Egypt, India,
1920s. He started writing it as chapter, BlueCambodia, etcetera. I suppose his books would
Books, putting them all together between 1923provoke a side of me to those countries, since
thru 1926, and making it a volume (it took himnow I have gone to them, plus fifty- five other
three years to write the book).countries, and forty-six states. Actually, most of
Between 1915, and 1929, he was dreaming ofthe places Mr. Durant traveled I traveled, and you
making a five volume set of history books, mixedmight even add a few more.
with philosophy, in the following years he traveledThe point I want to make is this, I bought this set
the world. In 1929 to 1975, he would continue toof books in 1971, at that time it was a nine or ten
write an eleven volume set of history booksvolume set. Then in 1973, I moved from
called, "The Story of Civilization." It would remain aMinnesota to Erie, Pennsylvania, I had sold the
ten volume set until 1975, when he finished afterprevious set, feeling I could not travel with such a
four years, writing the 1500-page book which wasload, I had a 1965-Ford Galaxy, and it was just
cut down, on Napoleon.enough room for my two young kids, Cody and
This was not his last book, rather his DualShawn, and my ex wife now, of that time. Thus,
Autobiography which took him two years toin 1973 I bought my second volume, but only had
write, was his last work to my knowledge,it for a year, I went back into the Army, and
published in 1977, and he of course died in 1981,back to Germany in 1974. In 1975, I ordered a
four years thereafter.new set to be sent to me in Germany, and to
The first of his volumes was started six yearsmy surprise, it was now an eleven volume set,
before its publication date, and were 1,049-pagesWill Durant with Ariel his wife had added the times
long, dealing with Oriental History, published in Julyof Napoleon to it. I remember hoping he'd do one
of 1935.more leading into the twentieth century, but I
In 1938, Mr. Durant drafted, or put into an outlineguess it world have taken perhaps three volumes
form, a ten volume set of history books, yet heto do that, and he was aging, I mean, in 1975 he
had only published one of the ten at this time. Hewas 90-years old, and started working on his dual
was at this time working on the second volume,autobiography.
dealing with Greece. In 1939, he submitted it forWell, it didn't stop there, I left Germany and the
publication. And then started work on VolumeArmy in 1980, and again, lost track of my set of
three, in 1943, and finished it in 1945, dealing withhistory books by Durant, and in 1981 ordered a
Christ and Caesar; after that, in the same yearnew set while doing graduate studies at the
he started work on The Age of Faith, volumeUniversity of Minnesota I kept that set until 2005,
four.when I sent 500- books from my Minnesota
To make a long story short, this is how his set ofLibrary to Lima Peru, for my new library in my
historical books progressed from 1926 to 1967,home there, the books never made it, I had sold
and his then their was a gap of 8-years, to 1975,them to a friend, and they were too heavy.
abd then two years to write his last bookAnyhow, that was my forth set.
published in 1977. His wife died Oct 25, 1981, andNow it is 2007, and I have ordered my 5th set,
Will died Nov 7, 1981, 13-days difference (Arielalong with his Autobiography, and 'The Story of
was 83 years old when she died, Will, 96). ButPhilosophy' thus I once again will have my whole
now I want to incorporate my relationship with hisset intact.
books which date back to 1971, or 36-years agoIt is funny how things work out. I never had a
for me.signed book by him, but now I got one, that also
(Dennis Siluk's Connection) I was going over andis a treasure. So I hope this little essay, if
over in my head about the set of history booksanything, has inspirited you to read whatever
by Mr. and Mrs. Durant, and it came to mind, I hadyour heart desires, it is for me the best past time
a history with all this, with him, even though he didin the world, and his history of civilization, is unique.
not know it. Matter of fact, we had a history for