The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community

The Rise of the West

Cover of the first edition
Author	William Hardy McNeill
Country	Canada
Language	English
Subject	History
Publisher	University of Chicago Press
Publication date	1963
Media type	Print

The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community is a book by Canadian and University of Chicago historian William Hardy McNeill, first published in 1963 and enlarged with a retrospective preface in 1991 (University of Chicago Press, 1992). Its first edition won the U.S. National Book Award in History and Biography in 1964 and it was named one of the 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the 20th century by the Modern Library.

The Rise of the West explore human history in terms of the effect of different world civilizations on one another. McNeill assumes "decent familiarity with Western history," which allows describing "underrated" matters. The footnotes teem with specialized studies that support the bold strokes in the text. Development is thematic within periods rather than entirely chronological. The book is in three parts of approximately equal length.

Part I (pp. 1–246) begins with evolutionary prehistory and the breakthrough to civilization in Mesopotamia. This is followed by the era of Middle Eastern dominance and the formation of peripheral civilizations in India, Greece, and China to 500 B.C.

Part II (pp. 247–562) discusses the Eurasian cultural balance to 1500 A.D., including the expansion of Hellenism, the closure of the Eurasian ecumene, the development of major religions, the barbarian onslaught, resurgence of the Middle East, and the Steppe conquerors. McNeill proposes that the basic engine of world history during this period is the temporary primacy of different regions of the ecumene, with a rough parity re-established as innovations spread to other centers of civilization. The sequence is Hellenistic / Indian / Islamic / Chinese and Mongol. Generally the eras are structured in terms of the internal history of the dominant region, followed by the history of the rest of the world with a focus on how they reacted to the diffusing techniques and ideas of the dominant region.