Whenever a country or a civilization faces a crisis, several intellectuals come out of the woodwork to (a) remind people of why the country or civilization is great, and (b) put it in the context of challenges that other countries and civilizations have faced. When the world was facing the consequences of sub-prime crisis that started in America, Niall took it upon himself to distill the crux of what does it mean to be called the West and why did it do better than other Civilizations. The goal of this book is to act as a warning sign and perform some self aggrandizing praise (if any). There was a sudden interest in the fall of Rome the year after Trump got elected to presidency. I am sure there will be several books on pandemics, vaccines, and economic crisis after this Covid situation. In this case, Niall preaches the modern gospel of "apps" and similar to old testament, he lists 6 virtues West has. They are 1) Competition, 2) Science, 3) Property, 4) Medicine, 5) Consumption, and 6) Work Ethic.
As an outsider, this book contains two levels of information. First, it provides me with the basic information of some important historic events (that too because I am not well read in History, in 10 years, I reckon I would find all the information to be very repetitive). Second, it provides me with an outsider perspective of non-Western Civilisations like Indian and Chinese. The elements that are present in West that are still absent from East are useful data points to understand the difference in trajectories of civilizations.
Having said that, there are only 2 chapters in the book, namely, Science and Property that I found to be impressive analysis. The chapters on Competition, Medicine, Consumption, and Work were really shoddy. Sure, they all have some element of truth to them, but I think they were blown out of proportion. One of the defining features of past 500 years of European project is imperialism. Ignoring the boost given by imperialism in all these 6 killer apps is, in my opinion, unforgivable. The chapters on Science explained in very simple terms the network effects of scientific collaboration. One thing that I felt Niall completely omitted is that performing any Science requires the country to have surplus and development of robust Chemical Engineering. Where did the West get its surplus from? I reckon it was from the exploitation and pillaging of the South Americas. Indeed, while all of the scientific revolution was going on, England did not have colonies in India.
The chapter on Property was very insightful. I think Niall really missed the point for the divergence between North and South Americas. While Spanish imperialism was indeed a contributing factor, I think the fact that most South Americans did not own land is a major contributing factor. Thomas Sowell explains, in a beautiful way, that unless an individual knows and fully understands that one's history is one's own making, one does not realize one's agency and work towards one's goals. Land ownership is a clear reminder of agency and gives a citizen to participate in the project of self-improvement and nation building. I think this is also the reason why Blacks do not participate actively in the project of America. Overall, I would say this was a good book to read in the beginning, but ended very poorly.
As an outsider, this book contains two levels of information. First, it provides me with the basic information of some important historic events (that too because I am not well read in History, in 10 years, I reckon I would find all the information to be very repetitive). Second, it provides me with an outsider perspective of non-Western Civilisations like Indian and Chinese. The elements that are present in West that are still absent from East are useful data points to understand the difference in trajectories of civilizations.
Having said that, there are only 2 chapters in the book, namely, Science and Property that I found to be impressive analysis. The chapters on Competition, Medicine, Consumption, and Work were really shoddy. Sure, they all have some element of truth to them, but I think they were blown out of proportion. One of the defining features of past 500 years of European project is imperialism. Ignoring the boost given by imperialism in all these 6 killer apps is, in my opinion, unforgivable. The chapters on Science explained in very simple terms the network effects of scientific collaboration. One thing that I felt Niall completely omitted is that performing any Science requires the country to have surplus and development of robust Chemical Engineering. Where did the West get its surplus from? I reckon it was from the exploitation and pillaging of the South Americas. Indeed, while all of the scientific revolution was going on, England did not have colonies in India.
The chapter on Property was very insightful. I think Niall really missed the point for the divergence between North and South Americas. While Spanish imperialism was indeed a contributing factor, I think the fact that most South Americans did not own land is a major contributing factor. Thomas Sowell explains, in a beautiful way, that unless an individual knows and fully understands that one's history is one's own making, one does not realize one's agency and work towards one's goals. Land ownership is a clear reminder of agency and gives a citizen to participate in the project of self-improvement and nation building. I think this is also the reason why Blacks do not participate actively in the project of America. Overall, I would say this was a good book to read in the beginning, but ended very poorly.
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