Civilization
The West and the Rest
Ferguson identifies six "killer apps" that let the West race ahead of the rest of the world, and asks whether that edge is fading.
Why did a handful of Western European states, backwaters in 1500, come to dominate the globe? Historian Niall Ferguson argues the answer lies in six “killer apps” the West developed and the rest initially lacked: competition, science, property rights, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic. Ranging across five centuries and continents, he traces how these ideas spread, and asks whether the West is now losing its monopoly on them. Fareed Zakaria names it among his six favorite books.
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