<DIV><p class="textbasic">Carroll Quigley was a legendary teacher at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. His course on the history of civilization was extraordinary in its scope and in its impact on his students.</p><p class="textbasic">Like the course, <b><i>The Evolution of Civilizations</i></b> is a comprehensive and perceptive look at the factors behind the rise and fall of civilizations.</p><p class="textbasic">Quigley defines a civilization as "a producing society with an instrument of expansion." A civilization's decline is not inevitable but occurs when its <i>instrument</i> of expansion is transformed into an <i>institution</i>?that is, when social arrangements that meet real social needs are transformed into social institutions serving their own purposes regardless of real social needs.</p></div>