One of my freshman year Western Civ professors hit the nail on the head when he promulgated what he called “Hellstern’s Rule of History” to us, a rule I will never forget. “Them thats got the guns make the rules” You can argue with the implications of that rule but you cannot argue that it is not true.
Book Review: How the West Won by Rodney Stark
How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity by Rodney Stark is a refreshing look at history. What I found most refreshing is that the book looks at the rise of Christianity as a good thing, even a necessary thing, instead of the calamity it is presented as in much historical writing. What I also found both new and intriguing is the idea that the disunity of the West has been one of the vital factors that contributed to the West achieving modernity where other cultural groups did not and that empires are in and of themselves bad things. Stark takes special care to demonstrate how the rise … More after the Jump…