The Rise Of The West William H McNeill Gryphon Leather History
Item History & Price
Reference Number: Avaluer:29324241 | Year Printed: 1989 |
Subject: History | Topic: History |
Publisher: Gryphon Press | Binding: Leather |
Special Attributes: Illustrated | Author: William McNeill |
ISBN: Does not apply |
by William McNeill
Privately printed for members of the Libraries of Gryphon Editions, Inc.Leather boards (pigskin)Color marbled-design end papersGilt-decorated boards and spineHubbed spineAll page edges giltRibbon bookmark bound inIllustrated with photographs, maps, and drawings828 pages6.25 x 9.25 inches.
The Rise of the West , winner of the National Book Award for history in 1964, is famous for its ambitious scope and int...ellectual rigor. In it, McNeill challenges the Spengler-Toynbee view that a number of separate civilizations pursued essentially independent careers, and argues instead that human cultures interacted at every stage of their history. The author suggests that from the Neolithic beginnings of grain agriculture to the present major social changes in all parts of the world were triggered by new or newly important foreign stimuli, and he presents a persuasive narrative of world history to support this claim. In a retrospective essay titled " The Rise of the West after Twenty-five Years, " McNeill shows how his book was shaped by the time and place in which it was written (1954-63). He discusses how historiography subsequently developed and suggests how his portrait of the world's past in The Rise of the West should be revised to reflect these changes. "This is not only the most learned and the most intelligent, it is also the most stimulating and fascinating book that has ever set out to recount and explain the whole history of mankind. . . . To read it is a great experience. It leaves echoes to reverberate, and seeds to germinate in the mind."-H. R. Trevor-Roper, New York Times Book Review