The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation [Paperback]

John M. Hobson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 5, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0521547245 | ISBN-13: 978-0521547246

John Hobson challenges the ethnocentric bias of mainstream accounts of the "Rise of the West" that assume that Europeans have pioneered their own development, and that the East has been a passive by-stander. Describing the rise of what he calls the "Oriental West", Hobson argues that Europe first assimilated many Eastern inventions, and then appropriated Eastern resources through imperialism. Hobson's book thus propels the hitherto marginalized Eastern peoples to the forefront of the story of progressive world history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"We are still at the beginning stage of a much-needed revisionist history of the world, to which this book makes a lively scholarly contribution. Hobson's well-documented argument warrants serious consideration." Janet Abu-Lughod, author of Before European Hegemony

"John Hobson's work is thoroughly researched, enormously wide ranging and well written. It does not merely provide a thoughtful response to recent Eurocentric world histories. It is also certain to play a central role in the new wave of studies demonstrating the substantial contributions to modern 'civilisation' made by so many non-European peoples. The work is a worthy successor to the classic study of 'imperialism' written by the author's great grandfather John Atkinson Hobson." Martin Bernal, author of Black Athena

"This provocative book aims to change the way historians think about the 'rise of the West."
The International History Review

"This is an important book of comparative and historical sociology. It is both a punchy polemic against Eurocentrism and an impressive gathering of evidence on the historical development of Europe and Asia. Hobson argues that the many inventions which supposedly enabled Europe to dominate the world were actually diffused to Europe from Asia (usually from China) and that Asia/China remained as developed as Europe until the 19th century--and mostly he convinces." Michael Mann, author of Sources of Social Power (2 volumes)

"Evidence that Asia's primacy was crucial to the Rise of the West has been accumulating for twenty years. Dr. Hobson has now pulled the pieces together in a compellingly written and most challenging scheme. His grand conception will open a whole new order of debate." Eric Jones, author of The European Miracle and Growth Recurring

"The true value of The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization resides in its capacity to reveal the manner in which politically expedient mythology has distorted Western understanding of both history and culture. There will be a need for many more such exploratory books..." - Reg Little

"It provides a nwe set of comparisons of economic and political developments in the East and Europe; and it offers a strong version of the Orient first thesis which it advances on points." - Jam Nederveen Pieterse, University of Illinois

Book Description

This book challenges the ethnocentric bias of mainstream accounts of the 'Rise of the West'. John Hobson argues that these accounts assume that Europeans have pioneered their own development, and that the East has been a passive by-stander. In contrast Hobson describes the rise of what he calls the 'Oriental West'. He argues that Europe first assimilated many Eastern inventions, and then appropriated Eastern resources through imperialism. Hobson's book thus propels the hitherto marginalised Eastern peoples to the forefront of the story of progressive world history.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (July 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521547245
• ISBN-13: 978-0521547246
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #325,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Half of a pair of books everyone should read, November 3, 2004

By 

Marcy L. Thompson (Sammamish, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation (Paperback)

I did not agree with everything in this book, but I sure learned a lot from reading it.

When I read the introduction, it became clear to me that this book is part of an on-going conversation among historians wrestling with the question of why "the West" has dominated the world stage. In fact, this author refers to David Landes' _The_Wealth_and_Poverty_of_Nations_ in a way that makes it clear that Hobson is responding to Landes. So I put this book aside long enough to read Landes' book first.

As a conversation, these two books have a great deal to offer. Neither is completely balanced, but between them, they cover a great deal of ground, both in terms of historical content and in terms of how the two authors understand the same events. Reading these two books together taught me a great deal, both about history, and about the historian's profession.

I strongly recommend that if you read one of these two books, you read the other. Be warned that if you agree with one, the other will probably infuriate you, but if you can stay the course, you will be both better informed and a bit wiser at the end of it all.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent polemic, January 12, 2006

By 

Brendan_Wallace "Brendan" (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation (Paperback)

Looking through the reviews above I can imagine the bewilderment of the potential reader. Some of the reviewers hated it, some loved it. So is this book any good? I would answer 'yes': but the book has to be seen for what it is. It is NOT a 'fair' and 'balanced' academic treatise. It is, as someone pointed out, a polemic. What they failed to point out is that it is an excellent polemic, that has to be seen in context. The context is the literally thousands of books that have been published which unthinkingly take a 'Eurocentric' view of world history, asking loaded questions that are carefully chosen to permit only the 'right' answers to be given (E.g. Why did democracy arise only in the West? Why did science arise only in the West? Why is the West so much more 'advanced' than the Muslim world/Africa/South America etc. etc. etc.). Of course no one accuses them of being polemics: if you take the orthodox view, that's simply 'common sense'.

It should also point out that like most polemics (and unlike most academic texts) this book is well written and a pleasure to read. Certainly if one was carrying out an academic study on this subject I would read other books on the subject from more 'orthodox' historians to get the other side of the coin. In other words, not every word of Hobson's book might be the Gospel Truth. He ignores ambiguity and nuance: if something can be related back to China or the Muslim World it is. But on the other hand, it states an important position, which from now on economic and cultural historians are going to have to take note of.

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars West and East: once more time (for good)., July 16, 2004

By 

César González Rouco (Madrid, Madrid Spain) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation (Paperback)

The description on the approach of the book provided by the "Book reviews" is fairly accurate. Therefore, I will only point out that the book is about one of the most con-troversial issues nowadays on long-term and comparative history: why Western countries have dominated the world during the last few centuries (in fact, Hobson objects to the very way the question is posed). Besides, the book is not a difficult reading (content: 5 starts; pleasure of reading: 4 to 3).
Other books I would recommend to read are the following: "The Dynamics of Global Dominance. European Overseas Empires 1415-1980", by David Abernethy; "Pre-industrial societies" by Patricia Crone; "The History of Government" by S.E. Finer; "The world economy. A millennial perspective" by Angus Maddison; "The Phe-nomenon of Religion", by Moojan Momen; "World History. A new perspective" by Clive Ponting; "The Great Divergence", by Kennetz Pomeranz;and Victor Lieber-man's "Strange Parallels: Volume 1, Integration on the Mainland : Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800-1830".
P.D. For more information, I would suggest reading also the reviews to this work in amakon.co.uk