Name: Justin's review of Civilization by Niall Ferguson
Item: Civilization
Rating: 3
Author: Justin

Niall Ferguson

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

The West and the Rest

Civilization

Justin

Jeni Enjaian

This book was all over the place and not in a good way. Ferguson set up the ostensible premise at the outset of the book that his purpose was to discover what made the west different from the rest, what made western civilization dominant over the past several hundred years. As a historian, Ferguson fails utterly miserably. Not only does he not support his thesis but he also shows now progression whatsoever in the text. He does not organize his chapters chronologically. For instance, in one sentence he goes from discussing the underwear bomber of 2009 to discussing in the next sentence, Edward Gibbon's description of the fall of the Roman Empire. That example also serves as evidence that Ferguson did not organize his supporting arguments topically either.
I really wanted to like this book. The Scottish narrator was fantastic. If the narrator had been any where near as bad as the one for Marco Polo, I would have been seriously tempted to abandon the book.
Quite frankly, only the narrator and the engaging prose within the utterly unorganized chapters kept me from giving this book one star. I would not recommend it. I'm currently reading another book by Ferguson. I don't have high hopes for it after this disaster.

In 1412, Europe was a miserable backwater, while the Orient was home to dazzling civilizations. So how did the West come to dominate the Rest? In this vital, brilliant book, Niall Ferguson reveals the six 'killer applications' that did it: Competition How Europe's small, piratical states built modern capitalism Science How innovation gave the West the military edge Property Rights How the laws of private property built the United States Medicine How colonialism transformed the world's health The Consumer Society How shopping made the Industrial Revolution The Work Ethic How western religious ideas brought it all together Do we still have these winning tools, he asks? Or is another power about to triumph? 'Brilliantly written, full of wit and virtuosity, stuffed with memorable lines and gorgeous bits of information. A great read.' The Times 'A dazzling history of Western ideas . . . epic.' Economist 'Vivid and fascinating.' Daily Telegraph 'Superb . . . brings history alive . . . dazzling.' Independent 'This is sharp. It feels urgent. Ferguson . . . twists his knife with great literary brio.' Andrew Marr

The Six Killer Apps of Western Power

Ilia Markov

I liked the book - although much of the thought in it wasn't that original - until the moment Ferguson's argument fell apart when he tried to explain the success of the West with its religion (Christianity and more specifically Protestantism) and specifically its religiousness.

That carries to the book in general - it's a good book, but on too many occasions the author tries to fit his narrative into the point he's trying to make and it feels pushed.

Justin &
Civilization by Niall Ferguson

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