The Measure of Civilization: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations

Hardback

Main Details

Title The Measure of Civilization: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Ian Morris
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:400
Dimensions(mm): Height 235,Width 152
Category/GenreWorld history
Economic history
ISBN/Barcode 9780691155685
ClassificationsDewey:909
Audience
Tertiary Education (US: College)
Professional & Vocational
Illustrations 4 Maps

Publishing Details

Publisher Princeton University Press
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publication Date 27 January 2013
Publication Country United States

Description

Over the years, there have been fierce debates over how civilizations develop and why the West became so powerful. Using a numerical index of social development that compares societies in different times and places, the author gives a sweeping examination of Eastern and Western development across 15,000 years since the end of the last ice age.

Author Biography

Ian Morris is the Jean and Rebecca Willard Professor of Classics and professor of history at Stanford University. His most recent book is the award-winning "Why the West Rules--for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal about the Future" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) which has been translated into eleven languages.

Reviews

"Stanford University classicist and historian Morris follows up Why the West Rules--for Now with a sophisticated volume designed to add quantitative muscle to his earlier arguments. A big-history theorist working in a vein similar to Niall Ferguson or Jared Diamond, Morris measures societies' historical 'abilities to get things done in the world.' With an impressive data array, he calibrates energy resources, social organization, war-making capacity, and information technology over time to compare the East and West. In the 21st century, he foresees a shift in global power and wealth from West to East, much as it shifted from East to West in the 19th... The ingenuity and style of his arguments will make economists and historians stand up and take notice."--Publishers Weekly Praise for Ian Morris: "Morris is the world's most talented ancient historian, a man as much at home with state-of-the-art archaeology as with the classics as they used to be studied."--Niall Ferguson, Foreign Affairs Praise for Ian Morris: "Morris is a lucid thinker and a fine writer ... possessed of a welcome sense of humor that helps him guide us through this grand game of history as if he were an erudite sportscaster."--Orville Schell, New York Times Book Review