ipl-logo

Ferguson Western Civilization Summary

878 Words4 Pages

WESTERN CIVILIZATION Niall Ferguson (2011). Civilization: The West and the Rest. London: Penguin Publishing Group Niall Ferguson is a Scottish historian. He writes and speaks about international history, economic and financial history, and British and American imperialism. The book has both historical and contemporary strands. 400 years after, western civilization is still lingering and drives our today’s world. The book is organized in a chronological and thematic manner. Ferguson posits that beginning from the fifteenth century, the Western world developed six powerful concepts “Killer Applications”-competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic that the rest of the world lacked, which allow the west …show more content…

Spielvogel (2005). Western Civilization, Cengage Learning Jackson Joseph Spielvogel an associate professor emeritus at Pennsylvania State University. He is influential in the development of the Western civilization courses. Spielvogel’s book “Western civilization” is present by exploring the past from a narrative position of political, economic, social, religious, intellectual, cultural, and military view. With a clear narrative of Western civilization, the book possesses a depth of over 150 maps and excerpts from over 200 primary sources that includes official documents. The central purpose of Speilvogel’s work on Western Civilization is to introduce us to a range of issues concerning the kinds of communities; political, social, moral, and religious we have construct for ourselves and the values that inform and define such communities. He also explores the intellectual currents of the early modern period, such as the protestant reformation, discovery of the new world, scientific revolution, and the rise of the modern state. He made attempts to make sense of the order of the social and natural worlds as well as men and women’s places in those …show more content…

The authors narrate contemporary findings that many authors neglect in regards to Western civilization adding up to the influential domination of the West in our world today. The take home point the authors are driving is that current happenings in the world today can be rooted to the influence of Western civilization. The authors wrote a very detailed account and transitions nicely, the only issue is that there are biases. Bias in that not the entire story is told and it is told from a perspective of a religious analysis. I don't think it is an objective representation when in all other cases, other perspectives are told. Andrew Targowski (2015). Western Civilization in the 21st Century (Focus on Civilizations and Cultures Series). New York: Nova

Show More
Related
141 Words | 1 Pages

Brian A. pavlac talks about changes that occurred in the western world in his new novel. He looks at history factors that will be remembered in the reformation of western civilization. Some of the practices that were practiced in western world as part of the civilization helped develop the western world socially and economically. The author of the novel offers a concise surgery of western civilization and looks at practices that helped improve civilization in western world. The people of western world had to improve their culture into practices that would favor all human being regardless of their social background.

Read More
1366 Words | 6 Pages

Western civilization zoomed ahead of the rest of the world in the 1500s due to what Niall Ferguson author of “Americas Oh Sh*t Moment” dubs the “Killer Applications.” He explains that early Europe was divided into various monarchies and republics, that were eventually divided into competing corporate entities, creating the competitive mentality that we are so familiar with. The scientific

Read More
932 Words | 4 Pages

Armesto illustrates this with a range of examples, including the rise and fall of empires, the impact of technological innovations, and the influence of cultural exchange. The book also emphasizes the importance of understanding the interconnectedness of civilizations. Armesto argues that no civilization exists in isolation and that the history of human societies is characterized by a complex web of interactions and exchanges. This is particularly relevant in today's globalized world, where the actions of one civilization can have far-reaching consequences for others.

Read More
672 Words | 3 Pages

Brigid Cosgrove AP World Mr. Bryant 15 March 2023 Imperialism LEQ In the 19th century, European imperialism began to dominate the globe. While Europe remained isolated from the rest of the prosperous world in earlier centuries, by the “Age of Exploration”, they began gaining the knowledge for development and advancements. As European countries began to realize the gain of wealth and power came through acquiring territories, they began competition of lands with imperial powers such as “the scramble of Africa” and missionaries sent to countries in Asia. With the continued expansion of European imperialism from the 19th into the early 20th century, Western dominance of profitable economies, reform movements in the Eastern world, and rebellion

Read More
2148 Words | 9 Pages

How did the dominant countries of the world come to be dominant? Or, how did people living in the same time period, with crude and primitive technology come to overthrow other neighboring countries? Especially since these countries were inhabited by people with relatively the same intelligence levels as themselves. However, some historians would conclude that intelligence was, in fact, the main deciding factor for the overthrow of some countries. However, in this book, Jared Diamond tells how guns, germs, and steel are, in effect, the reasons for some cultures being superior over others.

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

In the late 1800s, Europe was scrambling to conquer vast amounts of land. Imperialism had swept the continent by storm, with many countries vying for pieces of Africa and Asia to control. From 1880 to 1900, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy fought for African possessions and by 1900, nearly the whole continent had been split and placed under European rule. There was plenty of motivation for Europeans to conquer the world, and while some supported it, others didn’t. Most people in Europe at this time held ethnocentric views toward the “uncivilized” cultures in the world.

Read More
1147 Words | 5 Pages

How the Truth Will Set You Free: If You Dare to Read First, let me introduce the author; Mr. Rodney Stark, a Social Science Professor at Baylor University, that is well versed to tell the story of Western Civilization, he wrote other books on the subject matter, as well. Mr. Rodney Stark the Author of : How the West Won; The Neglected Story of Triumph of Modernity and has a commitment to truth, with a willingness to go out on a limb for truthful historical data that may be “barbaric” to some of today’s society, but in fact, writing truth is what he does for the true history. This is a fantastic truth-telling book, from a historical point of view. Some of the many things he writes about, Western Civilization is the one topic that did shape

Read More
1128 Words | 5 Pages

Jared Diamond attempts to answer this question through his historical narrative on the rise of civilization presented in Guns, Germs, and Steel. By drawing from his personal experiences, Diamond offers an explanation for this situation by explaining how the geographical location of past societies determined their rate of technological and societal advancement, ultimately defining the amount of international power modern states possess today. Although Jared Diamond’s argument seems to successfully trace the source of inequality between states back to the fact that not all geographic regions have the same nor equal amount of resources available, his reasoning is not completely compelling.

Read More
1267 Words | 6 Pages

Stark begins part two of How the West Won by arguing that the Dark Ages did not exist as there were several innovations happening at this time. He states that the fall of Rome was the inciting event that led to the rise of Western Civilization because it “unleashed so many substantial and progressive changes” (69). Many of the inventions at this time surrounded agriculture such as the harnessing of wind and water power and the invention of a horse collar. This allowed for greater and more efficient production of food and resources. Because of immigrating people groups during this era, there was a huge influx in arts and the creation of more complex music.

Read More
3463 Words | 14 Pages

the Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe 's greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilization and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of “the Other.” In addition, the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West). (1) Othering is an inherent classification and differentiation of peoples or cultures. This specific definition of Othering involving Europe and the Orient can be applied to other colonial constructions in which one society defines and reifies its centrality in juxtaposition and in comparison to another, neighboring community: the relationship between North Dormer and the Mountain.

Read More
972 Words | 4 Pages

“ During the Middle ages much of Europe passed through a time of turmoil and confusion, of ignorance and lawlessness. Europe suffered a decline in commerce and manufacturing, in education, in literature and the arts, and in almost all that makes possible a high civilization. Europe became a a region of poverty-stricken farming communities, each virtually isolated from

Read More
901 Words | 4 Pages

`` (Typee 27) When thinking about the term civilization, most people do not seem to have difficulties in defining the meaning of this word, which initially appears to be quiet simple. According to the Oxford dictionaries civilization is `` the stage of human social development and organization which is considered the most advanced. `` (Oxford Dictionaries) But when thinking about how this term was used in history the definition of the term civilization is not as clear as it seemed before. In ``The Discourse of Civilization and Decolonization`` the author Prasenjit Duara claims that the

Read More
680 Words | 3 Pages

Only a few Buddhist centers survived after the invasion of Muslim armies. On the contrast, Christian churches preserved and spread Christian teachings and the achievements of Greco-Roman civilization. This laid the foundation for future development of the western civilization. The history of Christianity is inseparable from the history of western culture and of western

Read More
876 Words | 4 Pages

Valéry’s Europe is very clearly the champion of civilisation, or at least it had appeared to be before the War signed the turning point for modernity, for the illusion of universal values advocated since the French Revolution, for progress, for the concept of civilisation

Read More
768 Words | 4 Pages

Some of its major elements: democratization in politics characterized by free election, independent and so on, rationalization in which logical system is used in theories and data, secularization which is the loss of religious influence when arguing and many other elements such as mass production, individualism and mechanization. What do you understand by the ‘Mechanism of Western Civilisation’? That they got enlightened when they started to use reason and philosophy and promote freethinking rather than depending on ancient text-religion- in each aspect of their lives whether individually so any individual should be mature and don't need guidance in his life and in science, which subsequently led to the development in the life standard. so the chronology is first philosophy and reasons, then intellectual movement then action and that results as working technology of

Read More

More about Ferguson Western Civilization Summary

Related Topics

Open Document