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Title: The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community With a Retrospective Essay by William H. McNeill ISBN: 0-226-56141-0 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.57 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The West Rises
Comment: McNeill belongs to that category of historians who not only bring an enormous treasure chest of knowledge, but who present it in a writing style so direct and compelling that the reader cannot help but admire their work. "The Rise of the West" is a monumental book. McNeill's knowledge of histroy, of facts, his erudition--all leave the reader in a kind of suspense and disbelief. Can one man know this much? Apparently he can. McNeill's vast lore is a proof of commitment to scholarship and historical discovery. Whether or not the West has a special status and a claim to a special place in human civilization (as I believe it does) is something that is for you, the reader, to decide. McNeill makes his arguments and then reasses them years later in this new edition; and he is less upbeat about the special position of the West. But that is theory, perspective, possibility, interpretation. Whatever interpretation you embrace, you won't regret reading this book for its facts, its comprehensive narrative, and its gift of widening historical perspectives and imagination.
Rating: 5
Summary: A masterpiece, rendered in a noble voice
Comment: This epic magesterial volume deserves no less than to be required reading for all citizens of the Western World. McNeill employs deft understanding and sensitivity equal to the herculean task. The author is no Western apologist, but shows how global civilization is developing into a mosaic largely driven by Western ideas.
Beginning just before the dawn of the agrarian transormation and spanning its eventual blossomings (and fadings) into civilization, McNeill takes the reader on a journey that answers questions you never knew you had. The Western way eventually remade the world, and McNeill shows why and how and when. Using evidence from art, archaeology, anthropology, politics, commerce, science, and religion he paints confident, broad strokes that nevertheless are rich in detail. It is a masterpiece of staggering scope, rendered in a noble voice.
The only important criticism is an undeniable Eurocentric bias (readily admitted by the author). But this becomes understandable and quite forgiveable as the reader follows the author wrestling enormous epics of civilization into a readable form. Regardless of this necessary perspective Rise of the West can certainly stand as comparable, perhaps even superior to similar works by Spengler, Toynbee, Braudel, or Diamond.
Rating: 5
Summary: The book most influential on my life
Comment: I've read this book 3 times so far. The history given here is very different from the version I learned in school and in church and from my parents.
The information in this book forms much of the basis for many of my basic morals, beliefs and opinions. As a broad history, McNeil necessarily discusses many cultures. The extraordinary diversity of those cultures has given me much to think about, particularly about the effect on each person's beliefs of when in history and into which culture he/she was born, e.g., a person born into the original Assasins culture would probably believe that murder was good while the same person born into most other cultures would probably believe murder to be evil.
This book has made me more tolerent of and open to other people's ideas.
(Reading this book also helps a lot in Trivial Pursuit :-).)
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Title: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond ISBN: 0393317552 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force and Society Since A.D. 1000 by William H. McNeill ISBN: 0226561585 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 1984 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Plagues and Peoples by William H. McNeill ISBN: 0385121229 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: February, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: History of Western Civilization: A Handbook by William Hardy McNeill ISBN: 0226561607 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1986 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Decline of the West (Oxford Paperbacks) by Oswald Spengler ISBN: 0195066340 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1991 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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