Sign in  |  Register

The New Criterion

America’s leading review of the arts and intellectual life
- Harry Mount, the London Telegraph

Features

March 1997

The real stuff of history

by Keith Windschuttle

The seventh in a series on The future of the European past

If an Oxford don had set out in the 1960s on the formidable task of writing a history of the world in the last millennium, almost certainly his main theme would have been the rise to dominance of the West, especially in the areas of science, politics, and economic and military power. This would have been true no matter which side he supported in the great ideological divide of the Cold War. Both the political Left and the Right had little doubt the West was the vanguard of history. The major Asian civilizations might have held vastly greater populations but for at least five hundred out of the past thousand years they had been on the receiving end of the great historical movements of the era rather than out in front, setting the pace.

In the Sixties, the history of Asia would have been written as something of a tragedy, a story of opportunities lost, of the closing of minds, of political weakness and disintegration. C ...

This article is available to subscribers and for individual purchase

Subscribe to TNC (Print and Online editions)

Subscribe to TNC (Online only)

Purchase article credit and clip this article

If you already have an account login first

Keith Windschuttle's latest book is The White Australia Policy (Macleay Press). His website is www.sydneyline.com.


more from this author

This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 15 March 1997, on page 4

Copyright © 2012 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com

http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/realstuffofhistory-windschuttle-3366
rate this article for your user profile

E-mail to friend


The New Criterion

By the author

Pax Americana

by Keith Windschuttle

On what the world would lose with the decline and fall of the United States.

English law & the spread of civilization

by Keith Windschuttle

On the successes of the "common law."

William Wilberforce: the great emancipator

by Keith Windschuttle

On William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-Slave Trade Campaigner by William Hague.

You might also enjoy

Christopher, for better & for worse

by Peter Collier

On the critic, polemicist & raconteur Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011).

Let's tickle the ivories

by David Dubal

On the joys of playing the piano.

Most popular

view more >

The New Criterion is now optimized for Mobile Devices

Webcasts

Anthony Daniels on the Euro Crisis
The New Criterion author Anthony Daniels delivers remarks in New York City about the "European experiment." With an introduction by editor Roger Kimball. Recorded on November 30, 2011.


Andrew C. McCarthy: The Muslim Threat
The New Criterion contributor Andrew C. McCarthy delivers remarks in Effingham, Illinois, about the threat of Islamism to the United States. A Friend of The New Criterion, Dwight Erskine, introduces McCarthy to the Effingham audience. Recorded on October 1, 2011.


Roger Kimball: The Grim Future of Statism
The New Criterion editor Roger Kimball delivers remarks in Effingham, Illinois, about the future of statism and The New Criterion's 30th anniversary. A Friend of The New Criterion, Dwight Erskine, introduces Roger Kimball to the Effingham audience. Recorded on October 1, 2011.