“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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