Sources for the History of Western Civilization is a primary source reader designed specifically to allow undergraduate students to interact with historical documents. Michael Burger provides only the editorial guidance that students truly require, without unnecessary interventions.

The book gives special stress to certain genres, including letters and biographical writings, and facilitates comparisons across time. Introductions to sources are brief, encouraging students to make their own assessments and giving instructors the freedom to supplement where desired. The third edition features substantive revisions and additional coverage of key topics throughout as well as new sources that include Christine de Pizan's The Book of the Body Politic, letters from German soldiers in World War I, Joe Biden's speech before Independence Hall in 2022, and extensive tables of comparative populations and GDPs of various countries, ca. 1500-2000.