Civilisation: Is the West history?
3rd Mar 2011; 19:00
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Historian Niall Ferguson asks why it was that Western civilisation, from inauspicious roots in the 15th century, came to dominate the rest of the world — and if the days of Western ascendancy are now coming to an end. Is the West about to be overtaken by the rest?Niall Ferguson’s Civilisation is a new six-part series starting on 6 March on Channel 4. In his fourth and most ambitious series for the channel, Niall reveals the elements of the West’s success—the six killer applications: competition; science; the property owning democracy; modern medicine; the consumer society and the Protestant work ethic - the real explanation of how, for five centuries, a clear minority of mankind managed to secure the lion’s share of the earth’s resources.
The conclusions Niall Ferguson comes up with are surprising and provocative. He reveals that while the killer apps have finally been downloaded by the rest, in the process, Western civilisation has lost faith in itself. And it is that loss of self-belief which poses the biggest threat to our continued predominance.
Chair: Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Channel 4 News
Organised with Channel 4, Penguin and Chimerica Media.
Suggested hashtag for Twitter users: #rsaC4
Niall Ferguson’s Civilisation on Channel 4: Intelligent, entertaining and educational, but also visually stunning, Civilization will do more for the public understanding of world history than any series since the original BBC series of the same name by Kenneth Clark more than 40 years ago.
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