Civilization

In 1412, Europe was a miserable backwater, while the Orient was home to dazzling civilizations. So how did the West come to dominate the Rest? In this vital, brilliant book, Niall Ferguson reveals the killer applications' that did it:

COMPETITION How Europe's small, piratical states built modern capitalism SCIENCE How innovation gave the West the military edge

PROPERTY RIGHTS How the laws of private property built the United States

MEDICINE How colonialism transformed the world's health

THE CONSUMER SOCIETY How shopping made the Industrial Revolution

THE WORK ETHIC How western religious ideas brought it all together

Do we still have these winning tools, he asks? Or is another power about to triumph?