History, western civilisation

In zijn "History of the world" heeft Roberts het al veelvuldig over de centrale rol die Europa in de wereldgeschiedenis heeft gespeeld. In "The triumph of the West" geeft hij een aantal voorbeelden van de overheersende rol van het westen in de geschiedenis. Het boek is niet zo samenhangend en alomvattend als zijn wereldgeschiedenis. Eigenlijk kun je beter "A history of the World" lezen en dit boek overslaan.
Uitgelezen: dinsdag 6 februari 2001 ( )

The origin, rise and legacy of Western civilization since 1500;
faith in ordering progress and destiny as 'normal' ideas for advancing preeminence of Western civilization; Near East, Judeo-Christian and Greco Roman influences, 324 pp

Did not like this as much as his history of the 20th century, nor do I think it was as well done as Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence. Having said that, it was a better than average way to kill time driving around. It was more a history from 1500 to 1988 than a work giving any really interesting conclusions. Also startling how out of date something that was published while the USSR was still in existence sounded.

The narrator was mediocre, some sort of Brit with a nasally "home counties" accent. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/667484.html

Roberts, a well-known academic historian, was given the task of doing an update of Clarke's "Civilisation" for the BBC, and this is the book-of-the-series. The New York times found the TV version uninspiring, and I regret to say I found the same of the book. Perhaps if I'd actually read it when I was 18, and knew a lot less about history than I do now... no, I don't think so. It's surprisingly meandering, mixes complacency with hand-wringing, and not very clear on who the target audience is. ( )