Civilization: The West and the Rest

Published by Penguin UK Audio

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Niall Ferguson's provocative bestseller, Civilization: The West and the Rest, read brilliantly by the author himself.

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin UK Audio
• Release date: Jul 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9780141972220

Reviews for Civilization

[paul_s-289480 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The author keeps repeating the really awkward "killer app" analogy and randomly peppers the book with cheap shots at his ideological opponents. Feels so out of place in history book. If the western culture ever needed an ambassador he would be the worst person to fill the post. I'm sure the author would agree as he would rather be the general of the occupying army.

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For such a small book it packs a lot of history into its pages. The information used to back up his arguements make sense.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The introduction to this book excited me because the author posed a question I'd often pondered: why did Europe overtake Asia? Guns, Germs and Steel avoided the question as that text slipped from "Eurasia" to "Europe" hoping no one would notice. Would I finally get an answer? Sadly, no. China turned inward, but why? Still a mystery.This book is an epic undertaking. I can't say the author strayed from his thesis becuase his thesis (the six killer apps) was broad enough to encompass a lot. But, he never answered his central question about the West vs. the Rest. Are our differneces the result of institutions or or culture? Are these really two different things? Mr. Ferguson is an engaging writer. He's done a lot of research and is a well respected author. Maybe he didn't want to answer his question about the West losing ground because he admires western civilization and retains a sense of optimism. As he says, there are a "plurality of futures."

[robinthoman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries. All over the world, more and more people study at Western-style universities, work for Western-style companies, vote for Western-style governments, take Western medicines, wear Western clothes, and play Western sports. Yet six hundred years ago the petty kingdoms of Western Europe seemed like miserable backwaters, ravaged by incessant war and pestilence. It was Ming China or Ottoman Turkey that had the look of world civilizations. How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed?In Civilization: The West and the Rest, acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that, beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts that the Rest lacked: competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic. These were the ‘killer applications’ that allowed the West to leap ahead of the Rest; opening global trade routes, exploiting new scientific knowledge, evolving representative government, more than doubling life expectancy, unleashing the industrial revolution, and hugely increasing human productivity. Civilization shows exactly how a dozen Western empires came to control three-fifths of mankind and four-fifths of the world economy.

[jrgoetziii · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ferguson's work is interesting, covers a lot of ground but often in minimal depth. His ultimate conclusions resonates, which is that what the West needs to fear is its own pusillanimity, but the work itself does less to prove it than it does to relate often trivial factual data.One of his better points, which is worth remarking, is that the greatest lost civilizations have usually collapsed within a remarkably short period--a generation, maybe two. But even this bears some criticism. The Rome of Theodosius was a far weaker place than the Rome of Augustus, so much of the decline had already been evident long before the bizarre reign of Honorius. Rome fell because it sacrificed its proven value system, with its emphasis on military discipline, political engagement, and the restriction of ambition, for a new, different one with an emphasis on withdrawal from the affairs of life and the re-creation of Heaven on Earth. Between this substantial change in not only values but also incentives and constraints, and the depletion of the Roman military through constant civil wars and attempted usurpations, Rome lost its military supremacy, and was forced to allow the barbarian tribes of Goths and other Germans into its territory in exchange for "protection" from other barbarians. The Roman soul was thereby sacrificed. This process was a product of centuries, not of half-decades. Unfortunately, Ferguson treats this chapter in the history of the West far differently; he implies that the reign of Theodosius was as glorious as that of Augustus, rather than a rescue-reign after numerous atrocious reigns by inferior emperors, and asserts confidently that Rome was lost in just one generation.All told, if only for the volume of facts which are therein related, the book holds some value; but for its arguments and presentation, I think it fails to live up to its promise quite miserably.

[thewasp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting view on the reasons western civilization progressed ahead of the rest and how the 'rest" are now catching up and may eventually overtake.Comparisons on competition, science, property, medicine, consumption and work are used to explain why certain countries grew and expanded and why others did not.Some interesting concepts although sometimes so many facts it was difficult to take them all in - although I do think I actually did learn something!

[pierthinker · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ferguson is a talented writer and spins avery good argument. You are entertained, educated and, generally gently, prodded to think a little as well. Ferguson challenges the liberal agenda that the West is a 'bad thing' and explains well how Western Civilisation (whatever we think of it) dominates global culture, politics and economics. On shakier ground when he addresses if the West will continue to dominate and rightly points out that it will fade as all civilisations do. The question is how long and what will be accomplished in that time?

[robertp_400354 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Superb read. I think it an objective look at what Western civilization is and how we got here, warts, saints and all.