Civilization: The West and the Rest
Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that beginning in the fifteenth...
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Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts, or “killer applications”—competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic—that the Rest lacked, allowing it to surge past all other competitors. Yet now, Ferguson shows how the Rest have downloaded the killer apps the West once monopolized, while the West has literally lost faith in itself. Chronicling the rise and fall of empires alongside clashes (and fusions) of civilizations, Civilization: The West and the Rest recasts world history with force and wit. Boldly argued and teeming with memorable characters, this is Ferguson at his very best.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780143122067 (0143122061)
ASIN: 143122061
Publish date: October 30th 2012
Publisher: Penguin
Pages no: 432
Edition language: English
This appears to me to be an attempt by Ferguson to provide a sort of sequel to Guns, Germs and Steel. I say that because both books begin the same way - the attempt to answer a question about Europe's predominance over the last few hundred years and because Ferguson makes multiple reference's to Dia...
Niall Ferguson is a sort of British Bright Young Thing and Stephen Colbert-type artist who is pretending to be an American Republican. like Ali-G , the joke is only apparent to the British; most Americans read Ferguson straight and believe he actually is a Heritage Scholar or whatever his title is a...
In some ways, I have very little to say about this book. The main ideas are in the chapter titles of the main 6 chapters of the book: Competition (small European nations in competition with everyone else, instead of larger nations - focused on China - having little to no competition), Science (the s...