Why did British boats shoot their way up the Yangzi in 1842, rather than Chinese ones up the Thames? Why do Easterners use English more than Europeans speak in Mandarin or Japanese? To put it bluntly, why does the West rule? There are two schools of thought: the 'Long-Term Lock In' theory, suggesting some sort of inevitability, and the 'Short-Term Accident' theory. But both approaches have misunderstood the shape of history.Ian Morris presents a startling new theory. He explains wi...

Peter Ritchie is just an ordinary solicitor, with an ordinary (if slightly shambolic) life, until the day his client, a male prostitute called Bobby Black dies suddenly when a kinky trick goes wrong. Bobby has been brutally murdered, and someone had tried to cover it up. But who, and why?Peter cannot rest until he knows the truth. And so begins a rollercoaster ride for him and his on-off girlfriend Naomi, that will see him pitted against some powerful enemies, and everyone he ever ...

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year"A remarkable book . . . an important book—one that challenges, stimulates and entertains. Anyone who does not believe there are lessons to be learned from history should start right here."— The EconomistSometime around 1750, English entrepreneurs unleashed the astounding energies of steam and coal, and the world was forever changed. The emergence of factories, railroads, and gunboa...

War is one of the greatest human evils. It has ruined livelihoods, provoked unspeakable atrocities and left countless millions dead. It has caused economic chaos and widespread deprivation. And the misery it causes poisons foreign policy for future generations.But, argues bestselling historian Ian Morris, in the very long term, war has in fact been a good thing. In his trademark style combining inter-disciplinary insights, scientific methods and fascinating stories, Morris shows th...

In the addictive sequel to The Judge: Part 1, the deadly game of cat and mouse continues for the protagonist, Peter Ritchie before drawing to a revealing and haunting close. We are again transported to London in the nineties, where Peter Ritchie’s list of suspects for the murder of prostitute Bobby Black is getting shorter and shorter. Due to his involvement with the case, Ritchie now finds himself so entrenched in a dark world of blackmail, police corruption, and cover-ups, he’s forced to...

'Ian Morris has established himself as a leader in making big history interesting and understandable' Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel'Morris succeeds triumphantly at cramming 10,000 years of history into a single book' Robert Colvile, The TimesFor hundreds of years, Britannia ruled the waves and an empire on which the sun never set - but forthousands of years before that, Britain had ...

A powerful and provocative exploration of how war has changed our society—for the better."War!. . . . / What is it good for? / Absolutely nothing," says the famous song—but archaeology, history, and biology show that war in fact has been good for something. Surprising as it sounds, war has made humanity safer and richer.In War! What Is It Good For?, the renowned historian and archaeologist Ian Morris tells the gruesome, gripping story of fifteen thou...

In the wake of Brexit, Ian Morris chronicles the ten-thousand-year history of Britain's relationship to Europe as it has changed in the context of a globalizing world.When Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, the 48 percent who wanted to stay and the 52 percent who wanted to go each accused the other of stupidity, fraud, and treason. In reality, the Brexit debate merely reran a script written ten thousand years earlier, when the rising seas physically ...

In Why the West Rules - For Now Ian Morris argues that to understand the development of East and West, we need to look beyond 'long-term lock-in' theories (that suggest it was inevitable) and 'short-term accident' theories. Instead, we need to measure social development - a group's ability to master its environment to get things done - and use the results to look at the patterns of history.Why the West Rules - For Now briefly describes the methods used to calculat...

In the wake of Brexit, Ian Morris chronicles the ten-thousand-year history of Britain's relationship to Europe as it has changed in the context of a globalizing world.When Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, the 48 percent who wanted to stay and the 52 percent who wanted to go each accused the other of stupidity, fraud, and treason. In reality, the Brexit debate merely reran a script written ten thousand years earlier, when the rising seas physically ...

In the last thirty years, there have been fierce debates over how civilizations develop and why the West became so powerful. The Measure of Civilization presents a brand-new way of investigating these questions and provides new tools for assessing the long-term growth of societies. Using a groundbreaking numerical index of social development that compares societies in different times and places, award-winning author Ian Morris sets forth a sweeping examination of Eastern and Weste...

Was haben Ölplattformen mit unseren Wertvorstellungen zu tun?Die meisten Menschen heutzutage halten Demokratie und Gleichberechtigung der Geschlechter für eine gute Sache und sprechen sich gegen Gewalt und Ungleichheit aus. Aber bevor sich solche Auffassungen und die damit verbundenen Wertvorstellungen allmählich im 19. Jahrhundert herausbildeten, galten 10000 Jahre lang genau gegenteilige grundsätzliche Annahmen und andere Werte. Woran liegt das? An unseren Energi...