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Civilization
- The West and the Rest
- Narrated by: Niall Ferguson
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
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Civilization
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Publisher's Summary
If in the year 1411 you had been able to circumnavigate the globe, you would have been most impressed by the dazzling civilizations of the Orient. The Forbidden City was under construction in Ming Beijing; in the Near East, the Ottomans were closing in on Constantinople. By contrast, England would have struck you as a miserable backwater ravaged by plague, bad sanitation and incessant war. The other quarrelsome kingdoms of Western Europe - Aragon, Castile, France, Portugal and Scotland - would have seemed little better. As for fifteenth-century North America, it was an anarchic wilderness compared with the realms of the Aztecs and Incas. The idea that the West would come to dominate the Rest for most of the next half millennium would have struck you as wildly fanciful. And yet it happened.What was it about the civilization of Western Europe that allowed it to trump the outwardly superior empires of the Orient? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues, was that the West developed six "killer applications" that the Rest lacked: competition, science, democracy, medicine, consumerism and the work ethic. The key question today is whether or not the West has lost its monopoly on these six things. If so, Ferguson warns, we may be living through the end of Western ascendancy. Civilization takes readers on their own extraordinary journey around the world - from the Grand Canal at Nanjing to the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul; from Machu Picchu in the Andes to Shark Island, Namibia; from the proud towers of Prague to the secret churches of Wenzhou. It is the story of sailboats, missiles, land deeds, vaccines, blue jeans and Chinese Bibles. It is the defining narrative of modern world history.
Critic Reviews
What listeners say about Civilization
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Cam Liston
- 27-02-2017
Hit and Miss
Apps 1,2,3, and 5 were excellent.
App 4 - Medicine was off topic and Niall seemed to be struggling for content.
App 6 - Religious Work Ethic seemed a little out of place.
Overall it was decent book.
Note: Accents during quotes were mostly terrible.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alison
- 04-05-2020
Brilliant. Thoroughly recommended.
Well researched. A mine of interesting and important information. Not a light weight read, heavy going but we'll worth the effort.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Roberto
- 02-04-2019
The amswer to the importance of western values
Contextualising history is of extreme importance in the relativistic, self doubting period we are experincing. Remind yourself of what has been learnt and hope not to repeat, but also be inspired to continue to grow the best that Western culture has created.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ken Craig
- 08-12-2016
If you only listen to one history book, this is it
Few history books cover the breadth of Civilization with such concision and poignancy. It is as much a commentary of the time as it is a detailed document of the past. Vast and sprawling in its content, but focused and relentless in its thesis. Perfect introduction to Ferguson's work.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- David Schutz
- 27-01-2019
Silly accents annoying
A fine analysis and generally well read by the author but distracting false accents used for quotations
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Alexander Emslie
- 07-06-2020
A brilliant and compelling analysis!
I am a great admirer of Mr. Ferguson. I chose this audiobook having just finished his “Empire “ discussion. The research is immaculate. I became absorbed in global politics and economics study through the Open University. I shall return and revisit this audiobook.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jarrad
- 27-03-2018
worthwhile listening
thought provoking stuff, easy to digest. i would recommend it to anyone with at least a passing interest in anthropology
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