Overview

Sometime around 1750, English entrepreneurs unleashed the astounding energies of steam and coal, and the world was forever changed. The emergence of factories, railroads, and gunboats propelled the West's rise to power in the nineteenth century, and the development of computers and nuclear weapons in the twentieth century secured its global supremacy. Now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, many worry that the emerging economic power of China and India spells the end of the West as a superpower. In order to understand this possibility, we need to look back in time. Why has the West dominated the globe for the past two hundred years, and will its power last? Describing the patterns of human history, the archaeologist and historian Ian Morris offers surprising new answers to both questions. It is not, he reveals, differences of race or culture, or even the strivings of great individuals that explain Western dominance. It is the effects of geography on the everyday efforts of ordinary people as they deal with crises of resources, disease, migration, and climate. As geography and human ingenuity continue to interact, the world will change in astonishing ways, transforming Western rule in the process. Deeply researched and brilliantly argued, Why the West Rules--for Now spans fifty thousand years of history and offers fresh insights on nearly every page. The book brings together the latest findings across disciplines--from ancient history to neuroscience--not only to explain why the West came to rule the world but also to predict what the future will bring in the next hundred years.

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9798200100392

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Reviews

"A formidable, richly engrossing effort to determine why Western institutions dominate the world.-- ""Kirkus Starred Review"""

Author Information

Ian Morris is the Jean and Rebecca Willard professor of classics and a professor of history at Stanford University. He has published a number of scholarly books, including The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World, The Dynamics of Ancient Empires, Death-Ritual and Social Structure in Classical Antiquity, and Burial and Ancient Society. He has also directed excavations in Greece and Italy. He lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California. Antony Ferguson, Earphones Award-winning narrator, was born in London. He has performed successfully on both sides of the Atlantic and has played many leading roles in theater, film, and television.

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