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Why The West Rules--For Now
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Review
`A great work of synthesis and argument, drawing together an awesome range of materials and authorities' --Andrew Marr
`The nearest thing to a unified field theory of history we are ever likely to get ... I loved it.' --Niall Ferguson
'Deeply thought-provoking and engagingly lively, broad in sweep and precise in detail.'
--Jonathan Fenby, author of The Penguin History of Modern China, former Editor of The Observer and former Editor of the South China Morning Post
`Ian Morris has returned history to the position it once held ... His vision is dazzling, and his prose irresistible.'
--Anthony Pagden, distinguished professor of political science and history at the University of California, Los Angeles, author of `Worlds and War: The 2,500 Year Struggle Between East and West'
`At last - a brilliant historian with a light touch. We should all rejoice.' --John Julius Norwich
`Astonishing ... hundreds of pages of the latest information dealing with every aspect of change' --David S. Landes, author of The Wealth and Poverty of Nations
`Formidable, richly engrossing ... A superior contribution to the grand-theory-of-human-history genre' --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
`Remarkable ... Anyone who does not believe there are lessons to be learned from history should start here.' --The Economist
`Morris is the world's most talented historian... he has brilliantly pulled off what few modern academics would dare to attempt' --Niall Ferguson, Foreign Affairs
`Read, learn, and enjoy!' -- Jared Diamond
`So important...one doffs one's hat to Morris's breadth, ambition and erudition'
-- Paul Kennedy, Sunday Times
`Morris handles huge ideas and transglobal theories with a breathtaking ease and humour.'
--Artemis Cooper, Evening Standard
`A path-breaking work that lays out what modern history should look like.' -- Financial Times
`The nearest thing to a unified field theory of history we are ever likely to get ... I loved it.' --Niall Ferguson
'Deeply thought-provoking and engagingly lively, broad in sweep and precise in detail.'
--Jonathan Fenby, author of The Penguin History of Modern China, former Editor of The Observer and former Editor of the South China Morning Post
`Ian Morris has returned history to the position it once held ... His vision is dazzling, and his prose irresistible.'
--Anthony Pagden, distinguished professor of political science and history at the University of California, Los Angeles, author of `Worlds and War: The 2,500 Year Struggle Between East and West'
`At last - a brilliant historian with a light touch. We should all rejoice.' --John Julius Norwich
`Astonishing ... hundreds of pages of the latest information dealing with every aspect of change' --David S. Landes, author of The Wealth and Poverty of Nations
`Formidable, richly engrossing ... A superior contribution to the grand-theory-of-human-history genre' --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
`Remarkable ... Anyone who does not believe there are lessons to be learned from history should start here.' --The Economist
`Morris is the world's most talented historian... he has brilliantly pulled off what few modern academics would dare to attempt' --Niall Ferguson, Foreign Affairs
`Read, learn, and enjoy!' -- Jared Diamond
`So important...one doffs one's hat to Morris's breadth, ambition and erudition'
-- Paul Kennedy, Sunday Times
`Morris handles huge ideas and transglobal theories with a breathtaking ease and humour.'
--Artemis Cooper, Evening Standard
`A path-breaking work that lays out what modern history should look like.' -- Financial Times
Book Description
Why does the West rule? Eminent Stanford polymath Ian Morris answers this provocative question, drawing uniquely on 20,000 years of history and archaeology, and the methods of social science.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
67 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clever and thought provoking,
This review is from: Why The West Rules – For Now: The Patterns of History and what they reveal about the Future (Hardcover)
Like most of us living in the West I have have pondered this question from time to time. Why did the west come out in front, and will it last? Should we all start learning Chinese? And was it inevitable - were Westerners more open-minded, or harder working, or were we just super-lucky to have had the industrial revolution? Or was it simply the work of exceptional people such as Julius Caesar, James Watt or Columbus?Morris looks at this from a different angle. He uses an index of social development to analyse how societies have risen and fallen (including energy capture, organisation/urbanisation, war-making and information technology). But most importantly he tells a brilliant story of global history. It's a big book, but it has to be, to cover its full scope. Part history, part archaeology, part geography, part biology and part sociology it is the work of a real polymath. It's incredibly readable too, beginning with a terrific fantasy of how things might have been. I didn't agree with all of it but it's still the best history book I've read this year. You may guess that I felt stongly about this book.
28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating and extremely convincing - a must-read,
This review is from: Why The West Rules – For Now: The Patterns of History and what they reveal about the Future (Hardcover)
Was just given this by a friend last week and have already finished it. I have to say this is the best non-fiction book I've read this year. I found it completely riveting, right from the introduction which is written as though the Chinese had triumphed over England in Victorian times rather than the reverse. That's just the start of Morris' investigation into why it didn't happen like that, and in fact why it is so hard to imagine this ever having been on the cards.His theory involves going back 15,000 years and tracing the progress of East and West since then. He then uses this analysis to look ahead to the future - which is pretty scary.Obviously it's a very ambitious theory and I'm sure it could be quite controversial, but Niall Ferguson says he's the world's most talented historian and I can't disagree. If you want to understand the story behind the global socio-economic landscape we live in today, read this book!
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A polymath who manages a vast sweeping view and still makes it readable.,
By Alan (Suffolk, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Why The West Rules – For Now: The Patterns of History and what they reveal about the Future (Hardcover)
Morris manages his book like a composer orchestrating complex themes. Like music, the blend of ideas makes logical and aesthetic sense. Yet the book is not full of its own worthiness; it is often humorous, often vernacular, always well-read and always accessible. The short chapter sections (with witty headings) lead you to read this episodically, so it could be an ideal bed-side book. Above all, it is a cogent analysis of history from a true polymath who sees the horizon as much as the ground under his feet; even if you do not buy the analysis, it is a stimulus to thinking about global development in ways you had not previously contemplated.
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