...
click to view more

The Rise of the West A History of the Human Community with a Retrospective Essay

by William H. McNeill

$42.37

add to favourite
  • In Stock - Guaranteed to ship in 24 hours with Free Online tracking.
  • FREE DELIVERY by Thursday, April 24, 2025 12:19:29 AM UTC
  • 24/24 Online
  • Yes High Speed
  • Yes Protection
Tell-A-Friend
Last update:

Description

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

Last updated on

Product Details

  • University of Chicago Pre Brand
  • Jan 1, 1992 Pub Date:
  • 9780226561417 ISBN-13:
  • 0226561410 ISBN-10:
  • English Language
  • 9 in * 2.1 in * 6 in Dimensions:
  • 3 lb Weight: