‘Why the West Rules for Now: The Patterns of History and What They Reveal About the Future’

Does the emerging economic power of China and India mean the end of the West’s political and cultural dominance of the world, which has endured for more than 200 years?

British historian and archaeologist Ian Morris tries to answer this question in his book,  Why the West Rules for Now: The Patterns of History and What They Reveal About the Future. The first chapter is available for free download.

Describing the patterns of human history over the last 14,000 years, Morris contends that for at least 1200 years, until the late 18th century, the East surpassed the West in development, but industrial revolutions in the West changed the dynamic. With globalization, the East cannot easily “catch up” with the West.

Political and cultural dominance, he reveals, are not determined by race, culture,