On Top Of The World

In this episode, Matt and Dave discuss Niall Ferguson’s controversial bestseller Civilization: The West and the Rest with Matt's grad school colleague Jack Bouchard. It is safe to say that none of us are huge fans of the “six killer apps” that Ferguson believes account for the supremacy of the “West,” particularly due to his heavy reliance on 19th century scholarship like this. Citing more recent work like R. Bin Wong’s China Transformed and Davis’ Late Victorian Holocausts, we suggest ways to challenge Ferguson’s popular narrative and teach a more complex explanation for the “rise of the West.” Recommendations are: Matt – Rosenthal and Bin Wong, Before and Beyond DivergenceJack – Pomeranz, The Great DivergenceDave – Fallows, China Airborne