The Rise of the West

A Culture of Improvement - Robert Friedel - Books - New York Times:

How did the West emerge, though, out of what was once a diverse set of has-been or backwater cultures of a relatively small geographic region roughly contained in the boundaries of modern Europe? This is no mere academic question. That transformation is one of the great phenomena of world history. Alliances are still being made and wars still being fought in which ideas about the origins of the West and its powers play a central role. So successful has the West been that its achievements are avidly envied or used even when they are looked at with wariness or hostility