Civilization: The West and the Rest

摘要: If in the year 1411 you had been able to circumnavigate globe, would have most impressed by dazzling civilizations of Orient. The Forbidden City was under construction Ming Beijing; Near East, Ottomans were closing on Constantinople. By contrast, England struck as a miserable backwater ravaged plague, bad sanitation and incessant war. other quarrelsome kingdoms Western Europe - Aragon, Castile, France, Portugal Scotland seemed little better. As for fifteenth-century North America, it an anarchic wilderness compared with realms Aztecs Incas. idea that West come dominate Rest next half millennium wildly fanciful. And yet happened. What about civilization allowed trump outwardly superior empires Orient? answer, Niall Ferguson argues, developed six 'killer applications' lacked: competition, science, democracy, medicine, consumerism work ethic. key question today is whether or not has lost its monopoly these things. so, warns, we may be living through end ascendancy. "Civilization" takes readers their own extraordinary journey around world from Grand Canal at Nanjing Topkapi Palace Istanbul; Machu Picchu Andes Shark Island, Namibia; proud towers Prague secret churches Wenzhou. It story sailboats, missiles, land deeds, vaccines, blue jeans Chinese Bibles. defining narrative modern history.