Why we chose this book
March 26, 2008 | 1925 GMT
The emergence of the West—Europe—as the dominant global force is the key to understanding the contemporary world. McNeill both explains that rise and shows the geopolitical foundations of its emergence.
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An absolutely splendid book!
McNeil takes history from the Neolithic to the 1950s in broad long-cycle swathes. Each focuses on the major currents of the period, but doing a good survey of all of the major cultural regions. The best aspect of the book is that he focuses on world history as a whole - showing the impact of one region upon another and how they interacted, rather than treating any one as an independant entity.
Also check out his book "The Pursuit of Power", which focuses on history since 1000, but does a good job of tidying up the period since 1700, which lacks the focus of the chapters on the earlier periods in ROTW.