The Rise of the West
A History of the Human Community With a Retrospective Essay
McNeill, William H.
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BOOK SUMMARY
The Rise of the West, winner of the National Book Award for history in 1964, is famous for its ambitious scope and intellectual rigor. In it, McNeill challenges the Spengler-Toynbee view that a number of separate civilizations pursued essentially independ
BOOK SYNOPSIS
The Rise of the West, winner of the National Book Award for history in 1964, is famous for its ambitious scope and intellectual rigor. In it, McNeill challenges the Spengler-Toynbee view that a number of separate civilizations pursued essentially independent careers, and argues instead that human cultures interacted at every stage of their history. The author suggests that from the Neolithic beginnings of grain agriculture to the present major social changes in all parts of the world were triggered by new or newly important foreign stimuli, and he presents a persuasive narrative of world history to support this claim.
In a retrospective essay titled "The Rise of the West after Twenty-five Years," McNeill shows how his book was shaped by the time and place in which it was written (1954-63). He discusses how historiography subsequently developed and suggests how his portrait of the world's past in The Rise of the West should be revised to reflect these changes.
"This is not only the most learned and the most intelligent, it is also the most stimulating and fascinating book that has ever set out to recount and explain the whole history of mankind. . . . To read it is a great experience. It leaves echoes to reverberate, and seeds to germinate in the mind."H. R. Trevor-Roper, New York Times Book Review
AUTHOR BIO
William H. McNeill is the Robert A. Millikan Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Chicago. His books include Mythistory and Other Essays and The Pursuit of Power, both published by the University of Chicago Press.
BOOK EXCERPTS
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MORE BOOK INFO
ISBN: 0226561410
ISBN(13-digit): 9780226561417
Dewey Decimal: 909
Library of Congress: 91024224
Book Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr
Language: ENG
Paper Weight (lb): 2.5
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