Download or read book How the West Won written by Rodney Stark and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-07-11 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finally the Truth about the Rise of the West Modernity developed only in the West—in Europe and North America. Nowhere else did science and democracy arise; nowhere else was slavery outlawed. Only Westerners invented chimneys, musical scores, telescopes, eyeglasses, pianos, electric lights, aspirin, and soap. The question is, Why? Unfortunately, that question has become so politically incorrect that most scholars avoid it. But acclaimed author Rodney Stark provides the answers in this sweeping new look at Western civilization. How the West Won demonstrates the primacy of uniquely Western ideas—among them the belief in free will, the commitment to the pursuit of knowledge, the notion that the universe functions according to rational rules that can be discovered, and the emphasis on human freedom and secure property rights. Taking readers on a thrilling journey from ancient Greece to the present, Stark challenges much of the received wisdom about Western history. Stark also debunks absurd fabrications that have flourished in the past few decades: that the Greeks stole their culture from Africa; that the West’s “discoveries” were copied from the Chinese and Muslims; that Europe became rich by plundering the non-Western world. At the same time, he reveals the woeful inadequacy of recent attempts to attribute the rise of the West to purely material causes—favorable climates, abundant natural resources, guns and steel. How the West Won displays Rodney Stark’s gifts for lively narrative history and making the latest scholarship accessible to all readers. This bold, insightful book will force you to rethink your understanding of the West and the birth of modernity—and to recognize that Western civilization really has set itself apart from other cultures.
Download or read book How the West was Won written by Louis L'Amour and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They came by river and by wagon train, braving the endless distances of the Great Plains and the icy passes of the Sierra Nevada. They were men like Linus Rawlings, a restless survivor of Indian country who?d headed east to see the ocean but left his heart -- and his home -- in the West. They were women like Lilith Prescott, a smart, spirited beauty who fled her family and fell for a gambling man in the midst of a frontier gold boom. These pioneering men and women sowed the seeds of a nation with their courage -- and with their blood. Here is the story of how their paths would meet amid the epic struggle against fierce enemies and nature?s cruelty, to win for all time the rich and untamed West.
Download or read book How the Irish Won the West written by Myles Dungan and published by Skyhorse Publishing Inc.. This book was released on 2011-03 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now everyone will know the truth. Without the Irish, the American frontiermay never have been tamed.
Download or read book Civilization written by Niall Ferguson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower “A dazzling history of Western ideas.” —The Economist “Mr. Ferguson tells his story with characteristic verve and an eye for the felicitous phrase.” —Wall Street Journal “[W]ritten with vitality and verve . . . a tour de force.” —Boston Globe Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries. How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts, or “killer applications”—competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic—that the Rest lacked, allowing it to surge past all other competitors. Yet now, Ferguson shows how the Rest have downloaded the killer apps the West once monopolized, while the West has literally lost faith in itself. Chronicling the rise and fall of empires alongside clashes (and fusions) of civilizations, Civilization: The West and the Rest recasts world history with force and wit. Boldly argued and teeming with memorable characters, this is Ferguson at his very best.
Download or read book Why the West Has Won written by Victor Davis Hanson and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2002 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Why The West Has Won' provides a history of the rise to dominance of the West, exploring the links between cultural values and military success.
Download or read book How the West was Won written by Lou Cameron and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Why the West Rules For Now written by Ian Morris and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2011-01-14 with total page 767 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why does the West rule? In this magnum opus, eminent Stanford polymath Ian Morris answers this provocative question, drawing on 50,000 years of history, archeology, and the methods of social science, to make sense of when, how, and why the paths of development differed in the East and West — and what this portends for the 21st century. There are two broad schools of thought on why the West rules. Proponents of "Long-Term Lock-In" theories such as Jared Diamond suggest that from time immemorial, some critical factor — geography, climate, or culture perhaps — made East and West unalterably different, and determined that the industrial revolution would happen in the West and push it further ahead of the East. But the East led the West between 500 and 1600, so this development can't have been inevitable; and so proponents of "Short-Term Accident" theories argue that Western rule was a temporary aberration that is now coming to an end, with Japan, China, and India resuming their rightful places on the world stage. However, as the West led for 9,000 of the previous 10,000 years, it wasn't just a temporary aberration. So, if we want to know why the West rules, we need a whole new theory. Ian Morris, boldly entering the turf of Jared Diamond and Niall Ferguson, provides the broader approach that is necessary, combining the textual historian's focus on context, the anthropological archaeologist's awareness of the deep past, and the social scientist's comparative methods to make sense of the past, present, and future — in a way no one has ever done before.
Download or read book The Rise of the West written by William H. McNeill and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-07-30 with total page 866 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. "This is not only the most learned and the most intelligent, it is also the most stimulating and fascinating book that has ever set out to recount and explain the whole history of mankind. . . . To read it is a great experience. It leaves echoes to reverberate, and seeds to germinate in the mind."—H. R. Trevor-Roper, New York Times Book Review
Download or read book The Decline of the West written by Oswald Spengler and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1991 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spengler's work describes how we have entered into a centuries-long "world-historical" phase comparable to late antiquity, and his controversial ideas spark debate over the meaning of historiography.
Download or read book Has China Won written by Kishore Mahbubani and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The defining geopolitical contest of the twenty-first century is between China and the US. But is it avoidable? And if it happens, is the outcome already inevitable? China and America are world powers without serious rivals. They eye each other warily across the Pacific; they communicate poorly; there seems little natural empathy. A massive geopolitical contest has begun. America prizes freedom; China values freedom from chaos.America values strategic decisiveness; China values patience.America is becoming society of lasting inequality; China a meritocracy.America has abandoned multilateralism; China welcomes it. Kishore Mahbubani, a diplomat and scholar with unrivalled access to policymakers in Beijing and Washington, has written the definitive guide to the deep fault lines in the relationship, a clear-eyed assessment of the risk of any confrontation, and a bracingly honest appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses, and superpower eccentricities, of the US and China.
Download or read book How Cities Won the West written by Carl Abbott and published by University of New Mexico Press. This book was released on 2010-07-16 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author traces the evolution of early frontier towns at the beginning of Western expansion to the thriving urban centers they have become today.
Download or read book Wild West Movies Or How the West was Found Won Lost Lied About Filmed and Forgotten written by Kim Newman and published by Bloomsbury Pub Limited. This book was released on 1990-01-01 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From his acclaimed study of horror films, Nightmare Movies, Kim Newman turns his attention to the western. Against the backdrop of American history, popular mythology and the development of the cinema, the book examines the main themes and tensions of the genre. With reference to thousands of films and hundreds of directors and actors Newman brings his entertaining, wide-ranging and authoritative approach to bear on one of the cinema's most popular genres - with illuminating results.
Download or read book The Cowboys written by Bruce Wexler and published by Skyhorse. This book was released on 2022-08-09 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Relive the Old West with illustrated biographies of Western luminaries like “Buffalo Bill” Cody, Charles Goodnight, Bill Pickett, William and George Calloway, Joseph McCoy, and more! The glory days of the Old West cowboy lasted for only a couple of decades, but during this short time the cowboy's reputation became a fundamental part of the American mythos. The Cowboys delves deep into the world of these iconic men. It gives an intimate insight into the tough working conditions of the cowboy's working kit, which has now achieved iconic status. This book even investigates the legendary Cowboy Code that governed the conduct and behavior of these rough-hewn men. The Cowboys examines the wider social impact of the nineteenth-century American cattle industry, which not only encouraged the building of railroads and new cattle towns in the western states, but also drew many different kinds of men to the frontier. Investors, freed slaves, crooks, ex-soldiers, and other would-be adventurers all took the opportunity to make a new start as cowhands and ranchers in the Wild West. The Cowboys investigates the life of the average cowboy and tells the stories of some of the most successful cattlemen. Even today, American culture continues to evoke the iconic persona of the cowboy through rodeos, movies, television, toys, books, and music. The Cowboys is a celebration of all aspects of the extraordinary cowboy legend.
Download or read book How the South Won the Civil War written by Heather Cox Richardson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-12 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the North prevailed in the Civil War, ending slavery and giving the country a "new birth of freedom," Heather Cox Richardson argues in this provocative work that democracy's blood-soaked victory was ephemeral. The system that had sustained the defeated South moved westward and there established a foothold. It was a natural fit. Settlers from the East had for decades been pushing into the West, where the seizure of Mexican lands at the end of the Mexican-American War and treatment of Native Americans cemented racial hierarchies. The South and West equally depended on extractive industries-cotton in the former and mining, cattle, and oil in the latter-giving rise a new birth of white male oligarchy, despite the guarantees provided by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, and the economic opportunities afforded by expansion. To reveal why this happened, How the South Won the Civil War traces the story of the American paradox, the competing claims of equality and subordination woven into the nation's fabric and identity. At the nation's founding, it was the Eastern "yeoman farmer" who galvanized and symbolized the American Revolution. After the Civil War, that mantle was assumed by the Western cowboy, singlehandedly defending his land against barbarians and savages as well as from a rapacious government. New states entered the Union in the late nineteenth century and western and southern leaders found yet more common ground. As resources and people streamed into the West during the New Deal and World War II, the region's influence grew. "Movement Conservatives," led by westerners Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan, claimed to embody cowboy individualism and worked with Dixiecrats to embrace the ideology of the Confederacy. Richardson's searing book seizes upon the soul of the country and its ongoing struggle to provide equal opportunity to all. Debunking the myth that the Civil War released the nation from the grip of oligarchy, expunging the sins of the Founding, it reveals how and why the Old South not only survived in the West, but thrived.
Download or read book Winchester written by Harold Francis Williamson and published by . This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The WEIRDest People in the World written by Joseph Henrich and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 A Bloomberg Best Non-Fiction Book of 2020 A Behavioral Scientist Notable Book of 2020 A Human Behavior & Evolution Society Must-Read Popular Evolution Book of 2020 A bold, epic account of how the co-evolution of psychology and culture created the peculiar Western mind that has profoundly shaped the modern world. Perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. If so, you’re rather psychologically peculiar. Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analytical. They focus on themselves—their attributes, accomplishments, and aspirations—over their relationships and social roles. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically distinct? What role did these psychological differences play in the industrial revolution and the global expansion of Europe during the last few centuries? In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich draws on cutting-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explore these questions and more. He illuminates the origins and evolution of family structures, marriage, and religion, and the profound impact these cultural transformations had on human psychology. Mapping these shifts through ancient history and late antiquity, Henrich reveals that the most fundamental institutions of kinship and marriage changed dramatically under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church. It was these changes that gave rise to the WEIRD psychology that would coevolve with impersonal markets, occupational specialization, and free competition—laying the foundation for the modern world. Provocative and engaging in both its broad scope and its surprising details, The WEIRDest People in the World explores how culture, institutions, and psychology shape one another, and explains what this means for both our most personal sense of who we are as individuals and also the large-scale social, political, and economic forces that drive human history. Includes black-and-white illustrations.
Download or read book How the Wild West Was Won written by Bruce Wexler and published by Skyhorse. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dusty road shoot outs, roaming buffalo, bar brawls, gold, tragedy, genocide, damsels in distress, and cowboys riding off into the sunset—the taming of the Western frontier is one of the most colorful and fascinating periods of American history. In this beautifully illustrated and comprehensive book, Bruce Wexler brings the ruggedness of the old American West to life, as he has in all ten of his books about the history of the Wild West. Here the figures of the cowboy, gunslinger, soldier, Pony Express rider, settler, and Native American are introduced and explored through their impact on the settling and assimilation of the region. The century between 1800 and 1900 proved to be the most explosive in terms of change as the West evolved from an untamed territory into an integral part of the country, connected by institutions such as the pioneer trail, the stagecoach, the Pony Express, the railroads, and the telegraph wire. Through its portrayal in movies, literature, television, fashion, and art, the West has become a familiar concept. Wexler sheds light on this much-romanticized period of history by acknowledging its gritty realities and providing an answer as to why, even now, such an allure persists in surrounding it. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
