Civilization: A New History of the Western World

by Roger Osborne

"It would be hard to imagine a more readable general history of the West that covers so much ground so incisively."―William Grimes, The New York Times Ever since the attacks of September 11, 2001, Western leaders have described a world engaged in "a fight for civilization." But what do we mean by civilization? We believe in a Western tradition of freedom that has produced a fulfilling existence for many millions of people and a culture of enormous depth and creative power. But the history of our civilization is also filled with unspeakable brutality―for every Leonardo there is a Mussolini, for every Beethoven symphony a concentration camp, for every Chrysler Building a My Lai massacre.

An ambitious historical assessment of the Western world―tying together the histories of empires, art, philosophy, science, and politics― Civilization reexamines and confronts us with all of our glories and catastrophes. At such a dangerous time in the world's history, this brilliant book is required reading.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, World History, Philosophy, Medieval, Historical

532 pages, Hardcover

First published January 23, 2006

About the author

Roger Osborne was a publisher of scientific, medical and technical books before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of The Floating Egg and The Deprat Affair.

Reviews

[Huyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is quite amazing how much Roger Osborne can stuff in a mere 500 pages with the description of the whole Western culture from the ancient times until the modern day. So, nothing in-depth, obviously. But it offers a glimpse of the history of the west, from unexpected perspectives. A beginner in this field, I find this book helpful and accessible to all non-western readers. The book challenges the western belief that everything can be solved through rationality, the way the West think of themselves as superior, divide the world into absolutes of good vs evil, and claim everything good, refined, and moral under the umbrella of the word "civilization". Looking back at the history of the West, Roger Osborne concludes that the despite all the glorious achievements and chapters, the western world was also full of superstition, irrationality, violence and intolerance. Unless they face this truth honestly, they won't understand the true meaning of civilization. Thought-provoking, I will say.

[Sarah Harkness · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up almost by accident in the library but was really hooked by it. A history of the world in 392 pages? but so beautifully written and cleverly created, full of fascinating insights and things I had just never heard before. Written in the aftermath of 9/11 and the war 'to save civilisation', this was a fascinating exploration of what we mean by 'Western civilisation', which after all is what leaders of the Western World are talking about. And the answer is that it is by no means a straightforward progression towards beauty, truth and moral behaviour...in fact, just a cursory glance backward into the horrors of the twentieth century should be enough to remind us that we are all just humans, trying to make sense of what the world throws at us, and often making truly horrendous errors and behaving in completely inhumane ways.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read and timely reminder that Civilization should always be written in quotes.

[Robert Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I can't review this poorly but I kind of want to. The book is undeniably an accomplishment. He tells the story of Western Civilization very well, even as he acknowledges that the project itself is somewhat suspect. There is great writing here. He leaves little out in a 500 page book, which is impressive, and when he chooses to zoom in on an era or city, it always carries the narrative along in a convincing and interesting way. Reading this was not a waste of time, even with the amount of history that I consume. So what's the problem?

Two things. I think there is an "Uncanny Valley" that applies to history writing. Much as animation gets creepier and creepier the closer it gets to looking human without being quite there, compulsively politically correct writing has a similar problem. If you read something from the 19th century, or even the 1960s you expect it to be offensive, and make all kinds of nasty assumptions and statements. You make allowances for the work being written in another era, and can enjoy it for its historical value. This book is only eight years old, and Osborne seems to be very convinced of his virtue and contemporary high mindedness. He's almost there, but not quite. Which makes it a much more annoying read than something older and blatantly racist. He's fallen into the PC uncanny valley.

The differences are mostly subtle and hard to go into, but one is not. He has chosen to call a book about the history of Western Civilization "Civilization". I think this is meant as a mocking reference to Kenneth Clark's 1960's BBC show of the same name, that took a similarly blinkered approach. Osborne criticizes Clark for his Euro-centrism, and then makes the same choice for some reason. It's weird.

The other issue is the arrogance of the author's attitude. The "Everybody thinks this, but they're wrong! Here's why I am right..." formulation pops up a lot. It feels like once a chapter, but that may be an exaggeration. One or two of the things he brought up really were revelations to me, but most of them were not. I just found the writer annoying, even though there is very little wrong with his book.

[Nemezida · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third book in my little marathon of history books was Civilization: A New History of the Western World by Roger Osborne.

The narrative is structured linearly: from prehistoric times to the post-war period in the 20th century.

It seems that such a layer of history would be difficult to fit into one volume. However, the author mentions only general and significant historical events. He mainly focuses on the culture, worldview, and ideology of people from different eras. Osborne speaks of philosophical works, art, attitudes towards the church, awakening of conscience, and prevailing ideas.

I liked this approach. And it was relatively easy to read.

From my standpoint, the chapters on the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment, and the World Wars are particularly successful. They do paint a clear picture of how the Western worldview has changed.

Moreover, Osborne puts into the concept of “civilization” not only the positive aspects of rational movement forward but also moments of cruelty, a latent feeling of superiority over representatives of other civilizations. So, it’s a rather thought-provoking book.

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fairly standard history of the west (however that is defined) spends a lot of time on the early modern period and the ancients, middle ages, and the last century get short shrift. I get that the last century has been overdone but I would have liked more on the middle ages. Still, it is a pretty standard history of Europe and its satellites.

[Sean Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

History can be a bit dry, and the idea of reading a book about the entire history of Western Civilization is more than a little bit daunting. Luckily, this book is written in fluid prose that keeps the reader engaged throughout. It also takes a unique way of looking at this history. Instead of focusing primarily on wars and politics, it takes a deeper look at the art, ideas, and movements that shaped the different eras our culture has gone through. It's one thing to simply state that something happened, it is another to give the reader a sense of why it happened, a feat that is handled with aplomb here. While you certainly can't expect everything of any importance to happen over the last several centuries to be covered in one book, one still comes away from this one feeling like they have a better understanding of human history. This is a must read, especially now, as it looks increasingly like we are on a path to repeat several of the mistakes we've made in the past.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Difficult to read. Not engaging. Information overload without many connections between the information. I just could not get into it. I keep it next to my bed to help me fall asleep. Highly recommended.

[Hugh Ruppersburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

See http://oldsmiley.blogspot.com/2008/10... for my review.

[Maik Civeira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un excelente libro de historia. Es más analítico que expositivo, por lo que asume que el lector ya sabe en qué consistieron los hechos históricos de los que habla y se centra en analizarlos. El libro resultó una agradable sorpresa porque el autor es un historiador posmo, pero de los inteligentes y sensatos, no de los magufos mamadores.

Entendí lo que realmente quiere decir cuando llama a valorar lo subjetivo: no es que las cosas que creen y sienten las personas sean por ello reales, pero sí que tienen valor para individuos y sociedades, y por eso deben de ser tomadas en cuenta, y no solamente descartadas como boberías irracionales. Me atrajo su revaloración del mundo anterior al grecorromano y de la Europa medieval, a menudo denostados como etapas previas a la civilización o de estancamiento de la misma. Me convenció su tesis de que muchos de los problemas de las sociedades contemporáneas provienen de la pérdida de los valores comunitarios, que se sacrifican en favor del individualismo.

Claro que no estuve de acuerdo en todo con el autor: entiendo su rechazo al racionalismo (no como epistemología, sino como filosofía de vida), pero cuando hace la típica relación forzada posmo entre Ilustración y Guerras Mundiales, no puedo hacer otra cosa que rechazar esa interpretación. También me pareció incongruente que rechazara el principio de causalidad, siendo que a lo largo de todo el libro trata de explicar los fenómenos históricos con base en relaciones de causas y consecuencias. Fuera de eso, es un excelente libro, que recomiendo ampliamente.

[Theodoros Vassiliadis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A substantial achievement.
Insight to the tendencies of history , and to personalities that gave life to these.
Insistence to what matters , and articulation of the sinews of occurrences,and phenomena.
Whoever is new to history can get a good sight of happenings, while seeing the 'linear civility' being exposed as mere appearance. The connection to general art through consequences in society is adequately analysed and the draft and blueprint of political action as a reaction to conditions made apparent

[Renee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately was assigned this book for class and while I typically enjoy books of most genres and loved the other 4 books we read, I hated this one.
The author is unclear and jumps around the timeline of progress too much, it’s dense in facts with little narration of how they connect together. Absolutely hated this book but has some great information.

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a very good book. He sets up false alternate views to knock down, selectively picks facts to support his arguments, and contradicts himself. An example of a pretended analysis concluding in a pre-determined opinion.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Woke drivel...completely misrepresents Western Civilization.

Rating: 1 out of 5 Stars.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing overview of how the civilization in the world developped over the years. It gives you an understanding of how the world ended up like it did.

[Craig Bullions · Rating 5 out of 5]

the scope of this is kinda mental for less than 500 pages

[Eloy van Loon · Rating 4 out of 5]

goeie overkoepelende blik over het begin van de westerse cultuur. moest deze voor mn opleiding lezen maar het was het zeker waard, sinds ik het tentamen had ge-aced.

[María Magdalena Ziegler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for a deep historical understanding. As mandatory al Barzun as an author.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exhaustive chronicle of the march of our civilization, showing how the unhealthy justifications for wealth and power continually degraded the quality of life for most of its citizens - with the mitigation of better technology and a return of traditional rights coming somewhat late in the process - cumulating in the insane world wars of the 20th century. Concentrates on the larger causes and trends as opposed to names and dates.

It's full of perspectives on everything from the Greek philosophers to the so-called "Dark Ages" to the Renaissance to the flaws of the French and Russian revolutions, and he makes a good case that our society's primary flaw it's inability to co-exist with any other ideas. We see what we like from our own worldview and assume that all other worldviews are inherently worthless on anything but a superficial level.

It's an opinionated book, and thus at times it doesn't necessarily feel like it's giving the whole picture, but it certainly makes a strong enough case to be considered essential reading for anyone interested in reconsidering our current worldview. No book is going to give complete perspectives, and this book certainly provides enough avenues for further reading. (Probably the point I'd be most interested in figuring out is when, and to what degree, the technological innovations of the last few centuries balanced out the losses in quality of life incurred by the social changes for the average person. And, of course, we're are still largely ignorant of what the rest of the world was like before Western colonialism got it's grubby paws everywhere, so it's easy to either demean or glorify all the indigenous cultures around the world, and a balanced perspective is something we're still trying to piece together.)

It's at times a difficult read, which is not surprising considering it's packing 2500 years of history in 500 pages. I'm going to give it a re-read at some point, as it's a lot to absorb, and now that I've got a feel for the overall flow the earlier chapters might feel more cohesive.

[Rachel Renz · Rating 4 out of 5]

At almost 500 pages, it's not exactly an easy or quick read, but it is an EXCELLENT book. It was my textbook for freshman history in college and I thought that--after years of sitting in history classes--Osborne did a wonderful job of teaching the history of western civilization in a fresh, interesting way. He made connections, incorporated culture, and included great reflections on the significance of the history. He also did a great job of examining the ways we are always taught history and seeing if there is really truth in the taglines we continually give to certain periods of history (for example, the dark ages may not have been as dark as we easily pass them of to have been). Great book!

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A commentary on the history of our western civilization. Mocks the idea that we feel superior to most of societies because we are "civilized" and how western civilization seemingly cannot coexist with any other form of culture. Very bland book. But it has some really good history, especially of the Renaissance Era and Napoleanic Wars. Also gives a good account of the cyclic nature of politics and the historical reasons behind those.

[Tamara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started of almost interesting, but petered out the closer it got to modern day. Maybe I misunderstood the premise. I thought it was going to be about how civilization came about and evolved, but it was mostly a kind of boring history of mankind and how we like to destroy one another. I couldn't even make myself read the last three chapters.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brisk history of Western Civilization, an a fine counterpoint to the linear, triumphalist narrative we grow up in. Of course, it's short (500 pages) considering its subject, so it leaves quite a bit out. And he's wrong about Beethoven, who, contrary to Osborne, ended up hating Napoleon. Getting something wrong with Beethoven is unconscionable.

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really good at covering a lot of information about the history of Western civilization. Unfortunately it leans on a post-911 narrative a little too strongly when it doesn't need to, this was probably more of a marketing gimmick that sounded good at the time. But, in 2009 it smells more opportunistic rather than necessary background info.

[TJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very thorough, but yet entertaining, if I can say that, book about western civilization. Good introductory history to the western world and the implications it has for today. Very thorough, but highly readable.

[Geoff Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Osborne does much more than celebrate grand achievements of Western Civilization. He is willing to look at the awful things that are just as much part of our story, and at the values that have allowed/impelled us into the horrors as well as the accomplishments.

[Martin Willoughby · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent one volume history of the western world. It looks at the broad sweep of history, examining the thems and directions that have affected the west, and, for the most part, the rest of the world.

[Graeme Hinde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kabir left this in my bag so I read the first hundred pages, to his mild ire. Nothing particularly insightful, but a good brush-up.

[Sanjay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully clear, concise and readable overview of the way western 'civilisation' as we know it has developed to the point that we can't stop wanting to kill each other.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good panoramic view on what the European civilization is about and how has it formed.