The first attempts at world history too often had a bland textbook feel, or were bee-in-the-bonnet chronicles that reduced history to the impact of a single factor. Such approaches have been challenged by Niall Ferguson's snappy, opinionated, made-for-TV narratives, in which the rest of the world is taken to task for its tardiness in adopting such western "killer apps" as private property, free trade and scientific method.

Char...