11 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Jacques Gernet's definitive single-volume history of Chinese civilization — covering prehistory through the 20th century — the most comprehensive and scholarly history of China available in a Western language for several decades.
French-American writer who wrote The Soul of China, Rome and the United States, and Sex and Power in History — developing civilizational comparisons and arguing that American civilization parallels Rome at the moment of its transformation from republic to empire.
American historian at Georgetown who wrote The Evolution of Civilizations and Tragedy and Hope — the latter an account of the Anglo-American financial network's role in 20th century history — who was Bill Clinton's mentor at Georgetown and became a conspiracy theory touchstone for his descriptions of elite networks.
British Catholic historian who wrote The Making of Europe, Religion and the Rise of Western Culture, and The Dynamics of World History — arguing that religion is the soul of culture and that Western civilization cannot be understood apart from its Christian foundations.
Jared Diamond's 2004 study of why past societies collapsed — examining Easter Island, the Anasazi, Norse Greenland, and others — and identifying common patterns (environmental damage, climate change, enemies, trade partners, societal response) that explain civilizational collapse.
Rousseau's 1750 prize-winning essay arguing that the arts and sciences have corrupted morals rather than improved them — his first major work and the beginning of his systematic argument that civilization corrupts natural human goodness.
British sociologist at the University of Virginia who wrote Visions of Empire, The Making of English National Identity, and 1989: Revolutionary Ideas and Ideals — examining how empires construct and project their identities, particularly the British Empire's self-presentation.
Volume I of Will Durant's The Story of Civilization — covering the civilizations of Egypt, the Near East, India, and China — the first volume of the most ambitious popular history series in American letters.
Volume II of Will and Ariel Durant's The Story of Civilization — covering ancient Greek history from the Minoans through the Hellenistic age — one of the most accessible and comprehensive popular accounts of ancient Greece.
William McNeill's 1963 magnum opus — winner of the National Book Award — arguing that Western civilization's rise to global dominance was the result of its unique position at the intersection of multiple civilizational influences (Near Eastern, Greek, Roman, Germanic) and its subsequent openness to borrowing from other cultures.
Amaury de Riencourt's 1958 interpretation of Chinese civilization — applying civilizational cycle theory to China's history and arguing that China has moved through recurring cycles of feudalism, unification, decline, and renewal, with a distinctive Chinese cultural genius that has survived every disruption.