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Book Cover
Book
Author Hobson, John M.

Title The Eastern origins of Western civilisation / John M. Hobson
Published Cambridge (U.K.) ; Melbourne : Cambridge University Press, 2004

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  909.09821 Hob/Eoo  AVAILABLE
Description xiii, 376 pages : 1 map ; 23 cm
Series ACLS Humanities E-Book (Series)
Contents 1. Countering the Eurocentric myth of the West: discovering the Oriental West -- 2. Islamic and African pioneers: building the Bridge of the World and the global economy in the Afro-Asian age of discovery, 500-1500 -- 3. Chinese pioneers: the first industrial miracle and the myth of Chinese isolationism, 1000-1800 -- 4. The East remains dominant: the twin myths of oriental despotism and isolationism in India, South-east Asia and Japan, 1400-1800 -- 5. Inventing Christendom and the Eastern origins of European feudalism, c.500-1000 -- 6. The myth of the Italian pioneer, 1000-1492 -- 7. The myth of the Vasco de Gama epoch, 1498-c.1800 -- 8. The myth of 1492 and the impossibility of America: the Afro-Asian contribution to the catch-up of the West, 1492-c.1700 -- 9. The Chinese origins of British industrialisation: Britain as a derivative late developer, 1700-1846 -- 10. Constructing European racist identity and the invention of the world, 1700-1850: the imperial civilising mission as a moral vocation -- 11. The dark side of British industrialisation and the myth of laissez-faire: war, racist imperialism and the Afro-Asian origins of industrialisation -- 12. The twin myths of the Western liberal state and the civilisational divide between East and West, 1500-1900 -- 13. The rise of the Oriental West: identity/agency, global structure and contingency
Summary "John Hobson challenges the ethnocentric bias of mainstream accounts of the Rise of the West. It is often assumed that since Ancient Greek times Europeans have pioneered their own development, and that the East has been a passive by-stander in the story of progressive world history. Hobson argues that there were two processes that enabled the Rise of the 'Oriental West'. First, each major developmental turning point in Europe was informed in large part by the assimilation of Eastern inventions (e.g. ideas, technologies and institutions) which diffused from the more advanced East across the Eastern-led global economy between 500-1800. Second, the construction of European identity after 1453 led to imperialism, through which Europeans appropriated many Eastern resources (land, labour and markets). Hobson's book thus propels the hitherto marginalised Eastern peoples to the forefront of the story of progress in world history." -- Publisher description
Analysis Civilization, Western - History
East and West
Notes Formerly CIP. Uk
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Intercultural communication.
East and West.
Civilization, Western -- History.
SUBJECT Europe -- Relations -- Asia. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008115005
Asia -- Relations -- Europe. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008114278
Genre/Form History.
LC no. 2003063549
ISBN 0521838355
0521547245 paperback
Other Titles Eastern origins of Western civilization