Measure of Civilisation (eBook)

Morris is the world's most talented ancient historian, a man as much at home with state-of-the-art archaeology as with the classics as they used to be studied.

A provocative and extraordinary contribution to wide-screen comparative history ... a true banquet of ideas

Ian Morris has returned history to the position it once held: no longer a series of dusty debates, nor simple stories--although he has many stories to tell and tells them brilliantly--but a true magister vitae, 'teacher of life.

For all those interested in why the West, not the East, industrialized first, this succinct and intelligent book provides new data, a new conceptual tool, and a promising new approach to this major question. It is a valuable, critical guide to Morris's quantitative index of social development and important for his observations about what we can learn from existing work, what features of societies matter most, and what future research is needed.

The ingenuity and style of his arguments will make economists and historians stand up and take notice.

Praise for Ian Morris: "Morris is a lucid thinker and a fine writer . . . possessed of a welcome sense of humor that helps him guide us through this grand game of history as if he were an erudite sportscaster."

An important book - one that challenges, stimulates and entertains. Anyone who does not believe there are lessons to be learned from history should start here

This is a superb book. Measuring how societies learned to harness energy better, improve their organizational and war-making capacities, and accumulate usable information, Ian Morris has developed a terrific index of social development. His fascinating conclusions and use of data will be controversial, but this book will become a classic source for anyone studying the nature of progress from sixteen thousand years ago to now.

Ian Morris has done it again. He has enriched the argument about 'why the West rules' with a treasure trove of information about social development over the last 16,000 years. No one seriously interested in world or 'big' history can afford not to read this book. It clearly and consistently told me what I needed to know about the social resources that provide the indispensable context for the interpretation of culture. And, it is an enormous pleasure to read. I cannot think of another book from which I have learned so much.