Civilization
Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries. This book shows how the Rest has 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 of civilizations, Civilization recasts world history with force and wit. Boldly argued and teeming with memorable characters, this book tells how the West overtake its Eastern rivals and how their zenith of power has now passed.
Praise for Civilization
“[Ferguson] uses his powerful narrative talents in these pages to give the reader a highly tactile sense of history. … The author [has a] knack for making long-ago events as vivid and visceral as the evening news, for weaving anecdotes and small telling details together with a wide-angled retrospective vision.”
— New York Times
“A dazzling history of Western ideas.”
“Mr. Ferguson tells his story with characteristic verve and an eye for the felicitous phrase.”
— Wall Street Journal
“[W]ritten with vitality and verve… a tour de force.”
— Boston Globe
“This is sharp. It feels urgent. Ferguson, with a properly financially literate mind, twists his knife with great literary brio…Ferguson ends by suggesting the biggest threat is not China but ourselves – our cowardice, drawn from ignorance, even stupidity, about our past. He is right. But as he shows himself, that can be fixed.”
— The Financial Times