Civilization: The West and the Rest [ペーパーバック]

While I suspect that David Starkey would violently object the two current giants of television history in the UK in terms of providing a worldview are the left leaning Simon Schama and the combative neo conservative Niall Ferguson. Their dust up at last years Hay Literary festival in Wales was a colourful sparring session between two big intellects firing verbal potshots at each other and a joy to behold. Schama concentrated on providing a robust defense of Barack Obama while Ferguson spent much of his allotted time dissing the President's now famous speech delivered in Cairo in 2009. Indeed he has described it as "touchy feely nonsense" and has in recent weeks sent out lurid warnings about Obama's failure to anticipate the demise of Mubarak and to come to terms with what Ferguson sees as the potential rise of the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt and the possible "restoration of the caliphate and the strict application of Sharia". Strong stuff, but Ferguson does like a good row. (see his feud with the nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman)

These themes above are the heart of this new book "Civilization: The West and the Rest" since Ferguson comes from the controversial standpoint that Western dominance has on the whole been a progressive force and that on the basis of a cost benefit analysis the good outweighs the bad (it is a constant theme in all his books). He recently argued that "the rulers of western Africa prior to the European empires were not running some kind of scout camp. They were engaged in the slave trade. They showed zero sign of developing the country's economic resources....and the counterfactual idea that somehow the indigenous rulers would have been more successful in economic development doesn't have any credibility at all." This is a bold, confrontational, contentious and provocative thesis and his new book reinforces these arguments postulating that there were six killer "apps" which propelled the West to a position of predominance. These were competition, science, property, modern science, consumption and work ethic all with a dedicated chapter in the book.

Space precludes a detailed debate on each theme but for example he contrasts how China was the world's most advanced civilization in the 15th century but stagnated and was overtaken by Dutch mercantilism and the rise of capitalism employing his six "skills". He will equally generate a furious response to the view that scientific development was "by any scientific measure, wholly European". Other ideas that the spread of the market was as influential in the rise of the West as the role of force tends to neglect that the often were inseparable and rather evil twins. Just look at the bloody history of German East Africa prior to the First World War, But even more close to home Ferguson has himself previously recognized in another part of his prodigious output that "When imperial authority was challenged - in India in 1857, in Jamaica in 1831 and 1865, in South Africa in 1899 - the British response was brutal".

That said all Ferguson books, whether you love or hate his arguments, are immensely readable and his historical sweep is vast. There is little doubt that he relishes the big strategic themes and his tone is one of super confidence and often compulsively provocative not least in his view that the West must relearn some of its old tricks to maintain its position. His ability however to take a small example and write it large often leads to accusations of research selectivity and the fact that the successful Chinese business city Wenzou also has 1,400 churches is used to tie some of his "apps" together in what is a very unconvincing argument. The title for this narrative is oddly lifted from another very recent book by the conservative philosopher Roger Scruton albeit the latters theme was Islamic terrorism. Similarly other historians such as Ian Morris, Eric Ringmar and John A Hall have covered these issues with much more subtlety and nuance. Yet Ferguson's strengths are his readability, populism and his headlong assault on some sacred cows. His weaknesses are the employment of the sweeping generalization and a strong streak of cultural arrogance. You can clap loudly or boo vehemently at Niall Ferguson when the television series to accompany this book commences on US television.

This book is for anyone who loves history. It is an eloquent defence of our civilisation's values, and also an impassioned and compelling argument for why the study of history is so important and is a vital discipline. It is not a matter of agreeing with every point Professor Ferguson makes, although his arguments are very convincing and it is hard indeed to see how to disagree. This book raises a question, which is how the West has achieved predominance over the rest of the world, and, by extension, how it can possibly maintain that predominance if it loses the features which made it so successful and which are being adopted by its rivals. It is a cultural analysis backed by historical evidence, and it is deliberately provocative even in terms of the question posed, not to mention the answers provided. The main value of this book is not, however, its all-encompassing sweep of world history and rich collation of stories and anecdotes, although that is what makes it so much fun to read and saves it from being boring (which many good books are). Professor Ferguson's virtue is that he does not sacrifice intellectual rigour in order to engage the interest of a non-specialist. As an economist as well as an historian his analysis is underpinned by serious scholarship that is not easily accessible to the layman, yet he vigorously challenges the established conventions that are characterised by complacency, presumed even-handedness, and relativism. Professor Ferguson is magnificent at marshalling a wide range of knowledge to support his opinions. It is what history should be all about. This book is an incisive analysis of the past which aims to stimulate debate. It is a reassessment of our assumptions that have a profound impact on the present, and of course also on the future.

Wow, what an amazing, exciting and insightful historical analysis of how we all got here! By "here," I mean to say, at Amazon, browsing books on line, reading the reviews of anonymous readers with wildly divergent opinions!

Before I write anything, remember this: Comparative Culture is, by definition, based on human opinion, and its study can be polarizing and emotionally sensitive. This book will get your back up, one way or the other.

There are many detailed reviews already written on this controversial volume, so I'll just cut RIGHT to the chase: If you're a conservative American (or European, for that matter), and you think we are "by God, the strongest country on earth, never been stronger, and all you foreign hordes coming from Asia can love it or leave it!" then this book is NOT for you. If you're a Tea Partier or a Rick Perry supporter, this book is going to rankle you, maybe even offend you, because Dr. Ferguson recognizes that the United States is an empire in serious trouble. But he doesn't leave the story there.

On the other side of the coin, if you're a staunch "declinist," a radical environmentalist, an Occupier, or a gloom-and-doom jeremiah, this book will ALSO put you off. Niall Ferguson is far too sophisticated a social critic to be easily labeled. He's not a flag waving patriot, and he's not a red-hot revolutionary. He's an enormously accomplished historian who believes that our times are BAD, that civilization is dangerously close to rapid disintegration, that the loss of standards and civility in life are creating a world of unimaginable selfishness, that fear and greed rule the WORLD, not just the markets, and that mass consumerism leads to boredom, loneliness and depression. There's just one catch: He believes we can fix it. He believes we NEED to fix it, quickly, URGENTLY!

So who will actually LIKE this book? Political scientists, intellectuals, and liberals with enough time and money to contemplate BIG issues will love this book. Your typical suburban professional, with a mind inquisitive enough to wonder what the hell is going on will love this book. Anyone living in the "West" with the feeling that we're muddling through a decade-long malaise will appreciate this book. Your political persuasion is really not important.

Dr. Ferguson gets our attention by first dispelling the historical misconception that strong empires tend to fade away with time, due to internal stagnation and external competition. Well, he wants us to know that empires don't fade away, they CRUMBLE, usually within a generation. He supports this view with historical evidence. In other words, we live in a world within which many great civilizations have come crashing down due to [the same] internal stagnation and external competition in a matter of a few years. He thinks the "West," and the United States in particular, are dangerously close to falling off the cliff. The Eurozone, too.

He wants to "save" the "West" from this outcome by 1) sounding the alarm and 2) offering recommendations on how this might be done. This is really, REALLY important and amazing stuff.

The book centers around a metaphor of the "West" using its "killer apps" to rapidly advance economically from the "Rest" over the past 500 years. He sets up a beautifully effective structuralist argument that the "West" adopted an "operating system" which became the world standard, and that six "killer apps" were designed for that operating system that completely marginalized the rest of the world. Dr. Ferguson is quite specific about the six "killer apps" around which he constructs his argument. You'll have to read the book to learn what they are! He dedicates a chapter to detailed discussion of each of these killer apps, and explores how the "Rest" are catching up to the "West" because they have simply learned how to download these apps, and make them work within their own "operating system."

The "Rest" adopted an "operating system" that may have been technically superior, but became marginal because it was not pragmatic or expedient. Here, he's referring to the great Asian and African civilizations, and he's stuffing (and generalizing) the comparative political analysis into a "Beta vs. VHS" or "Apple vs. Microsoft" metaphor. I love it!

Here's the punchline: The six killer apps of the West have become corrupted by viruses and are losing there competitive advantage due to COMPLACENCY. We need to refocus on the continued development of our killer apps, and then "reboot" the entire system. We'll become the better performing, restored machine after this, moved back from the brink by own our effort and skill. We'll need to accommodate a new operating system too, because Asia is rapidly advancing.

If we fail to recognize the problem, our killer apps, and our entire operating system may be replaced by another more aggressive and adaptable standard. The world will become one-sided. The metaphor refers here to the emergence of Asia, once again, supported by historical trends. For those of you who rave that Dr. Ferguson's thesis is racist, I offer this: He's not comparing RACE anywhere in the text, but he is comparing CULTURE. Once again, we're talking about comparative culture, which is an extremely sensitive topic. And, if anything, he is praising the enormous advancements of the civilizations OUTSIDE the "West."

I think this is a brilliant thesis, told with powerful insight, strong historical references, and a lovely post-modern allegorical structure.

Niall Ferguson doesn't know everything, but he is smart enough to know when things are bad enough to take notice. And he's optimistic enough in the tools he learned as a "Westerner" to believe that there's much more good work to do. The West is too young to die. Our apps work. They need updates... now.

Will we heed the call to fix things, or will we let stagnant gridlock, selfish intolerance and complacency destroy our civilization? Niall Ferguson believes the choice is ours. WE can work for a better society, or we can continue to go our own way, knocking down anyone and everyone who stands in our way to... what? More debt, more stagnation, and more Lexapro?

This book is, obviously, highly politically charged, and it does NOT respect the decorum we would generally describe as "politically correct." It's an easy read about weighty issues, but it's going to make you either mad as hell or thankful for such a penetrating mind. But if it moves you to action or, at least to contemplation, it's a successful book.