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mkquinn91 's review for:
This has immediately become one of my favorite books. I'm a fan of "big history" and, thanks to his background in archaeology and incredible command of narrative history, Ian Morris goes about as big as you can get: starting from the beginning at the dawn of humanity to explain why the West rules. Going so far back is part of Morris's design to examine Western rule with greater rigor than most, first explaining what it means to rule (to have greater social development, that is the ability to get things done) and the division of West in East in prehistory. He further demonstrates that all humans are essentially the same and operate based on fear, laziness, and greed. Since we are all about the same, it is really geography, rather than culture or genetics, that explains why the West rules.
While this might seem to be simply a redux of Jared Diamond's argument in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Morris's arguments are more complex and persuasive. Unlike Diamond, Morris does not think geography gave the West a long-term lock-in for rule. Rather, as social development changes over time, it changes the meaning of geography, as technology and accumulated learning allows people to discover advantages in peripheral areas. Indeed, the East surpassed the West in development for around 1200 years until the late 18th century. Morris further contends that although Western rule was very probable after the 14th century or so, the East had chances to keep its lead into the present before them.
Like many writers of "big history," Morris sees humankind's path as being determined by impersonal forces of nature, geography, and biology, perhaps to the chagrin of historians/history buffs that prefer greater human agency. Morris addresses this convincingly, showing that people do have agency, but usually only over the timing of shifts that dictated by greater forces. However, he proposes that as social development is rising more rapidly than ever before, the world is much smaller, and people--namely world leaders--are poised to have a greater impact on the course of history than ever before. Considering the state of world leadership in 2017, this is a dark prospect. Made all the darker still by Morris's final conclusion that the next few decades are likely to be perhaps the most important in history, as we are poised to either reach transhuman levels of development, or hit a very hard development ceiling that could spell doom.
I hope I've illustrated that I think this is an important book. It explains not only history, but the challenges that are ahead. Morris is also an incredible writer, never losing your attention as he covers centuries in paragraphs. He also has a lively sense of humor and grasp of popular culture. I especially appreciated his references to Isaac Asimov's work, especially his Foundation series, which has strikingly similar themes to Why the West Rules.
While this might seem to be simply a redux of Jared Diamond's argument in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Morris's arguments are more complex and persuasive. Unlike Diamond, Morris does not think geography gave the West a long-term lock-in for rule. Rather, as social development changes over time, it changes the meaning of geography, as technology and accumulated learning allows people to discover advantages in peripheral areas. Indeed, the East surpassed the West in development for around 1200 years until the late 18th century. Morris further contends that although Western rule was very probable after the 14th century or so, the East had chances to keep its lead into the present before them.
Like many writers of "big history," Morris sees humankind's path as being determined by impersonal forces of nature, geography, and biology, perhaps to the chagrin of historians/history buffs that prefer greater human agency. Morris addresses this convincingly, showing that people do have agency, but usually only over the timing of shifts that dictated by greater forces. However, he proposes that as social development is rising more rapidly than ever before, the world is much smaller, and people--namely world leaders--are poised to have a greater impact on the course of history than ever before. Considering the state of world leadership in 2017, this is a dark prospect. Made all the darker still by Morris's final conclusion that the next few decades are likely to be perhaps the most important in history, as we are poised to either reach transhuman levels of development, or hit a very hard development ceiling that could spell doom.
I hope I've illustrated that I think this is an important book. It explains not only history, but the challenges that are ahead. Morris is also an incredible writer, never losing your attention as he covers centuries in paragraphs. He also has a lively sense of humor and grasp of popular culture. I especially appreciated his references to Isaac Asimov's work, especially his Foundation series, which has strikingly similar themes to Why the West Rules.