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Insightful Overview
“What attracted me first to this book was ... its title. It is global by its name, historical by its content, and has lots of room for social and political observations. Books with such titles rarely leave the reader uninvolved, though the reaction is usually positive or negative depending on the subject matter, the book's quality, and the reader's predisposition.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-11-12.
Overall, my experience with Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West was very positive, but with some caveats. The author was able to put the whole history of East/West relations (2.5 millenniums, from the 5th century B.C. through the present) in the limited space of 576 pages. Such a "condensed" approach of vast subject matter often results in quite dry reading (like an encyclopedia). But here, this was not the case. Despite the huge volume of historical material, the book remains very readable: the style is lucid, ironic, and occasionally spliced with anecdotal evidence.
In dealing with East/West relations, Pagden focuses on two major issues: democratic vs. authoritarian rule, and secular vs. theocratic. He traces history as a conflict between the individual liberty of the West and absolutism of the East, without masking his sympathy for the former. It is up to you, the reader, to agree or disagree with the author's ideological framework and his presentation of facts ( See Amazon's Book Reviews ). My major fascination with this book was the way it presented established events in a different light.
Pagden writes about familiar events - world history as we know it. Familiar in this context means from the Western point of view. (This is why many history books are so similar; they rehash the same events from the same perspective). This book is an exception. Despite the author's liberal perspective, he presents a surprisingly balanced view. The book is at its best where it discuses well known events (such as Xerxes invasion of Greece, Alexander the Great's eastern campaigns, the fall of Constantinople, Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, etc.) from both an Eastern and Western perspective. Though the Western view is quite familiar to us, the Eastern perspective is often unexpected and revealing. The book also includes periods of history that are not very familiar to Western readers, such as life in Spain under the Moors, Arabic and non-Arabic influences in Islam, Orientalism, etc. This book fills the vacuum. The author's erudition and intimate familiarity with Eastern sources on known (and not so known) events, provides an essential compliment to traditionally Western interpretations.
Of course, all these revelations may be found in specialized academic publications (and much more). But Pagden's ability to write a readable book, of modest size, addressing such a range of subjects, is a huge achievement. Therefore, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. A word of caution: though this book is written for the general reader, it should not be used as an introduction to world history.
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0 of 1 members found this review helpful.
De ja vu religion bashing
“I looked forward to this book for more information on the global conflict throughout history, but what I got instead is the same tired bashing of religions run amok by the typical atheistic/agnostic liberals who whine about everything. Wars of religion have been going on for centuries, but the author centers on these conflicts only to dismiss nonreligious clashes to simply grind his axe. On several occasions, the information is inaccurate to the point of changing history to fit the thesis. Explain how Ancient wars are religious based in the first place. Back then it was Nationality and superiority not whose religion was better Even if the thesis is to blame religion for wars, come up with better examples instead of regurgitating the obvious (The Crusades). More importantly are the Peloponnesian Wars, both World Wars, the American and French Revolutions, the Franco-Prussian war, the Khans invasions and more. Each has significance to the issues of today and little if any religious background to them. ”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-12. -
How History Should be Told
“One does not have to embrace Pagden's story to appreciate what he has achieved here. First, this book must be commended for its readability. A quick perusal of any history section will show that once you look inside the pretty covers and catchy titles, most histories are written to present facts not captivate the reader. Pagden presents many facts, but does so in way that rewards the reader. This is perhaps because he tells Western history not so much from the angle of "what happened" but as the history of an idea. The campaigns of Alexander are not what are important as much as his significance to the Western (and Eastern) consciousness. Thus representative and iconic events are included, not necessarily every decisive moment. The story begins with Greek "Myth" and interweaves it in much the same way the Greeks themselves would have found little distinction between "history" and "myth."
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-09-01.
Thirdly, Pagden has the boldness to cut against the establishment perspective of Islam as essentially benign or at minimum better than Christianity. Ever since Edward Said scared the West into thinking we were mistelling the story of Islam, our academia has lived in a state of myopia concerning its worldview and intent. Thus we have the ironic situation where supposed secularists are apologists for Islam in most of the mainstream books. Pagden has no such prejudice. He tells a secular story from beginning to end, and the work is best read as an apology for a pre-Christian morality and conception of the West. As a Christian I of course disagree with Pagden's low view of Christianity and high view of Roman morality, but his consistency in presenting Islam and Christianity actually makes for a cohesive and more believable story. Overall an outstanding book. ” -
2 of 4 members found this review helpful.
Arrogant Prejudice
“Mr. Padgen is well-educated, and wants to be sure you know it. He revels in overly-complex sentence structure, a record for nested parentheticals, and exhibits an annoying fondness for using exemplar lingua. This clutters up a rather good piece of storytelling, fanciful as it may be.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-07-02.
Biased against Christians (crass persecutor Domitian is a "Great Reformer" while brilliant Tertullian is "crotchety"), he pushes a "progressive" agenda of one-world citizenship and latent anti-Americanism. Does he really expect us to believe that stoicism has left the "most lasting impact on cultures of the West" or that Cicero's "Christian heirs" are invoking a pagan philosopher rather than Jesus?
Worst of all, he neglects to show how Soviet Russia or Communist China fit into his political tract - most likely because they refute his cherished belief that religions have caused more lasting harm to the human race than any "enlightened, liberal" thought. Pity that such a talented and studied storyteller would attempt to foist an intolerant, one-sided sermon upon us under the guise of historical fact.” -
1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Tendentious
“Probably because it is tendentious, self-righteous and ironic, Mr. Pagden's book keeps one's interest throughout. He paints with a wide brush, and there are here and there a few errors of fact. But I found the book quite enjoyable.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-06-16.
