‘Why the West Rules – For Now’ Review

A book very well worth reading. Morris is an excellent historian and a great story teller. He weaves the exploding body of empirical evidence about human history into an easily followed story line culminating in the emergence of the contemporary “world order.” However, as a theorist of history he has a long way to go.
Morris attempts to begin this intellectual journey with the origins of humans ca. 2 million years ago. But evolutionary biology and paleoanthropology are not his forte and this early part of the book is a little shallow and unsatisfying. However, as he reaches the eras where his specialties, archaeology and history, get traction, the story gains powerful substance and narrative force.

Reviewed by Paul M. Bingham and Joanne Souza
Coauthors of “Death from a Distance and the Birth of a Humane Universe”