The West

Niall Ferguson's aim in "Civilization: The West and the Rest" is to explain why Western civilization presently dominates the rest of the world in a variety of ways - scientifically, militarily, culturally and ideologically. While "the West" may seem like an odd choice for a main character, "The West" is arguably the protagonist or flawed hero of the book. "The West" consists of those nations and peoples that originate in Europe over the last thousands years or so and that have spread throughout North America. In other words, today "the West" is the sum of Canada, the US, Europe and their colonies.

Ferguson argues that the West is dominant due to its harnessing of six "killer apps" or sociological, economic and philosophical resources that allowed it to get ahead. While "the West" was poor and culturally backward since the fall of the Roman Empire, its stumbling upon...