Alan I. Marcus is the author of Building Western Civilization: From the Advent of Writing to the Age of Steam (1998) and is no longer aprofessor of history at Iowa State University. Building Western Civilization: From the Advent of Writing to the Age of Steam (ISBN 0155001159) is a history book written by Alan I. Marcus in 1998. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1998(MCMXCVIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Jump to: navigation, search A professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) (prof for short) is a senior teacher, lecturer and researcher, usually in a college or university. ... Iowa State University (ISU) is a public land-grant university and space-grant university located in Ames, Iowa. ...