(P/B) THE RISE OF THE WEST

Παρουσίαση

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. (From the publisher)

Περιεχόμενα

PART I : THE ERA OF MIDDLE EASTERN DOMINANCE TO 500 B.C.
I. IN THE BEGINNING
II. THE BREAKTHROUGH TO CIVILIZATION IN MESOPOTAMIA
III. THE DIFFUSION OF CIVILIZATION: FIRST PHASE
A. INTRODUCTION
B. THE CIVILIZATIONS OF THE NILE AND INDUS VALLEYS TO 1700 B.C.
C. THE TRANSPLANTATION OF CIVILIZATION TO RAIN-WATERED LANDS
D. THE IMPACT OF CIVILIZATION ON THE OUTER FRINGES OF THE AGRICULTURAL WORLD
IV. THE RISE OF A COSMOPOLITAN CIVILIZATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST, 1700-500 B.C.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. MILITARY-POLITICAL CHANGES
C. ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS
D. SOCIAL STRUCTURE
E. CULTURAL CONSERVATION AND ADVANCE
V. THE FORMULATION OF PERIPHERAL CIVILIZATIONS IN INDIA, GREECE, AND CHINA, 1700-500 B.C.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. THE FORMULATION OF INDIAN CIVILIZATION
C. THE FORMULATION OF GREEK CIVILIZATION
D. THE BEGINNINGS OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION TO 500 B.C.
E. CHANGES IN THE BARBARIAN WORLD TO 500 B.C.
PART II: EURASIAN CULTURAL BALANCE 500 B.C.-1500 A.D.
VI. THE EXPANSION OF HELLENISM, 500-146 B.C.
A. THE FLOWERING OF GREEK CULTURE, 500-336 B.C.
B. HELLENIC EXPANSION INTO BARBARIAN EUROPE
C. THE HELLENIZATION OF THE ORIENT, 500-146 B.C.
VII. CLOSURE OF THE EURASIAN ECUMENE, 500 B.C.-200 A.D.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE NON-HELLENIC
CIVILIZATIONS OF EURASIA, 500-100 B.C.
C. THE EURASIAN ECUMENE, 100 B.C.-200 A.D.
VIII. BARBARIAN ONSLAUGHT AND CIVILIZED RESPONSE, 200-600 A.D.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. THE FLOWERING OF INDIAN CULTURE
C. THE EXPANSION OF INDIAN CIVILIZATION
D. THE NORTHERN FRONTIER: BARBARIAN BREAKTHROUGH AND
CIVILIZED REACTION
E. THE OUTER FRINGES
IX. THE RESURGENCE OF THE MIDDLE EAST, 600-1000 A.D.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. THE MOSLEM WORLD
C. CHRISTENDOM
D. INDIA
E. CHINA AND THE FAR EAST
F. THE OUTER FRINGES
X. STEPPE CONQUERORS AND THE EUROPEAN FAR WEST, 1000-1500 A.D.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. INFILTRATION AND CONQUEST FROM THE STEPPE
C. ISLAMIC REACTION TO THE PRESSURES FROM THE STEPPE
D. INDIANS, CHRISTIANS, AND JEWS UNDER MOSLEM RULE
E. THE FAR EAST
F. THE FAR WEST
G. THE FRINGES OF THE ECUMENE
PART III: THE ERA OF WESTERN DOMINANCE, 1500 A.D. TO THE PRESENT
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
XI. THE FAR WEST'S CHALLENGE TO THE WORLD, 1500-1700 A.D.
A. THE GREAT EUROPEAN EXPLORATIONS AND THEIR WORLD-WIDE CONSEQUENCES
B. THE TRANSMUTATION OF EUROPE, 1500-1650 A.D.
C. EUROPE'S OUTLIERS: THE AMERICAS AND RUSSIA, 1500-1650 A.D.
D. THE CHANGING BALANCE OF THE ECUMENE, 1500-1700 A.D.
E. CONCLUSION
XII. THE TOTTERING WORLD BALANCE, 1700-1850 A.D.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. THE OLD REGIME OF EUROPE, 1650-1789 A.D.
C. MOSLEM CATALEPSY, 1700-1850 A.D.
D. HINDU AND BUDDHIST ASIA, 1700-1850 A.D.
E. CREEPING CRISIS IN THE FAR EAST, 1700-1850 A.D.
F. THE RETREAT OF BARBARISM, 1700-1850 A.D.
XIII. THE RISE OF THE WEST: COSMOPOLITANISM ON A GLOBAL SCALE, 1850-1950 A.D.
A. INTRODUCTORY
B. THE WESTERN EXPLOSION, 1789-1917 A.D.
C. THE NON-WESTERN WORLD, 1850-1950 A.D.
CONCLUSION
A. SCALE OF POLITICS
B. SCOPE OF POLITICS
C. DILEMMAS OF POWER