East and West.

Rating:
Summary: Who among the gods set them twain to fight?
Review: Parkinson spent eight years in Malay as a professor of history. The brief author biography casts him as artist, journalist, soldier and historian. And part of the joy of this book is Parkinson himself who makes this 300 page history entertaining and informative in equal measures. In his introduction Parkinson writes, "My view of history is one of many and no more accurate than any other. All that I can claim for my interpretation is that it may be thought specially relevent to the age in which we live".pg.4
The book was written in 1963 and Parkinsons theory is that the east and west have alternately been dominant, "the periodic decline of one civilization creating a cultural vacuum that was filled by the adjacent rising culture." At the end of his book he predicts that the east is about to go through a period of ascendancy or renascence and that Russia allied with the west will be the "new Byzantium" which keeps the rising east at bay. Little could he have known in the cold war climate of 63 how prescient he would prove to be. Parkinson tells history in an easy going manner which nonetheless proves how comfortable he is with his material which ranges from the Persian Empire to Alexander the great to the Crusades and into the modern era of English Empire, Gandhi and the rise of marxism. He records how from the earliest trade routes the east and west were in contact and so were never at any point purely east and west as there was a continual flow of influence between the two. Parkinson finds the east to have been the more advanced cicilization and to have had a more significant effect on the west than vice versa until 1500, at which time the west began to become technologically superior most markedly in its application of eastern navigational knowledge to discover the new world. After 1500 Parkinson suggests the western nations began a period of accelerated growth spurred on by competition between themselves that left the east far behind. One reason for this Parkinson claims is that in the east the different areas of expertise were strictly regulated by the caste system which did not encourage communication between the various branches of knowledge, while in the west there was much more social mobility and a freer exchange of ideas which allowed and encouraged the flow of knowledge which resulted in the wests great advances in the sciences and technologies.
But Parkinson also argues that the period of western ascendancy ended around 1850 at which time he believes began to lose faith in itself. And thus his prediction that the moment is ripe for an eastern ascendancy. Part of the reason for writing the book he says was in the hopes that by understanding this east west dynamic we will be better equipped to deal with these inevitable shifts in power in a peaceful manner. He also adds that he thinks the dynamic is a good one and preferable to a universalism which would lead to stagnation on both sides.

Rating:
Summary: Who among the gods set them twain to fight?
Review: Parkinson spent eight years in Malay as a professor of history. The brief author biography casts him as artist, journalist, soldier and historian. And part of the joy of this book is Parkinson himself who makes this 300 page history entertaining and informative in equal measures. In his introduction Parkinson writes, "My view of history is one of many and no more accurate than any other. All that I can claim for my interpretation is that it may be thought specially relevent to the age in which we live".pg.4
The book was written in 1963 and Parkinsons theory is that the east and west have alternately been dominant, "the periodic decline of one civilization creating a cultural vacuum that was filled by the adjacent rising culture." At the end of his book he predicts that the east is about to go through a period of ascendancy or renascence and that Russia allied with the west will be the "new Byzantium" which keeps the rising east at bay. Little could he have known in the cold war climate of 63 how prescient he would prove to be. Parkinson tells history in an easy going manner which nonetheless proves how comfortable he is with his material which ranges from the Persian Empire to Alexander the great to the Crusades and into the modern era of English Empire, Gandhi and the rise of marxism. He records how from the earliest trade routes the east and west were in contact and so were never at any point purely east and west as there was a continual flow of influence between the two. Parkinson finds the east to have been the more advanced cicilization and to have had a more significant effect on the west than vice versa until 1500, at which time the west began to become technologically superior most markedly in its application of eastern navigational knowledge to discover the new world. After 1500 Parkinson suggests the western nations began a period of accelerated growth spurred on by competition between themselves that left the east far behind. One reason for this Parkinson claims is that in the east the different areas of expertise were strictly regulated by the caste system which did not encourage communication between the various branches of knowledge, while in the west there was much more social mobility and a freer exchange of ideas which allowed and encouraged the flow of knowledge which resulted in the wests great advances in the sciences and technologies.
But Parkinson also argues that the period of western ascendancy ended around 1850 at which time he believes began to lose faith in itself. And thus his prediction that the moment is ripe for an eastern ascendancy. Part of the reason for writing the book he says was in the hopes that by understanding this east west dynamic we will be better equipped to deal with these inevitable shifts in power in a peaceful manner. He also adds that he thinks the dynamic is a good one and preferable to a universalism which would lead to stagnation on both sides.

Rating:
Summary: HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL
Review: THIS BOOK IS A HISTORY OF THE AGE-OLD CONFLICT BETWEEN EASTERN AND WESTERN SOCIETIES FROM THE GREEKS THROUGH THE CRUSADES TO THE STRUGGLES OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION WITH ISLAM IN OUR OWN DAY. IT IS EXTREMELY WELL PRESENTED AND QUITE PROFOUND IN ITS VIEW OF INTERCULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS AND CONFLICTS AND THE REASONS FOR THOSE SPECIFICALLY OUTLINED. IT PROVIDES THE READER WITH SOMETHING MORE VALUABLE THAN KNOWLEDGE, AND THAT IS AN UNDERSTANDING OF AN ASPECT OF HISTORY AND OF CONTEMPORARY ISSUES THAT MAY WELL DECIDE THE FATE OF MANKIND. PARKINSON LOOKED BEYOND THE COLD-WAR STEREOTYPES THAT DEFINED THE ERA IN WHICH HE WROTE AND WAS BOLD ENOUGH TO INCLUDE RUSSIA IN THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE REAL CONFLICT. RUSSIA'S FATE, SAYS HE, IS INEXTRICABLY TIED TO THE WEST, AND THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE WILL IN FUTURE BE INSTUMENTAL IN HOLDING THE FRONT LINES OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM, BETWEEN AN EASTERN CIVILIZATION EXTENDING FROM CHINA TO THE ARAB STATES OF THE NEAR EAST AND WESTERN CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT. AS IN THE DAYS OF THE CRUSADES, JERUSALEM IS THE SYMBOLIC, AS WELL AS THE TRUE CENTER POINT OF THIS CONFLICT. THE DAYS AHEAD WILL SEE AN EVER-INCREASING TENSION AS THE EAST AND WEST ONCE AGAIN WAR FOR SUPREMACY. THIS SUPREMACY HAD ACTED LIKE A PENDULUM IN HISTORY, EACH SIDE HAVING ITS ALTERNATING PERIODS OF GLORY AND DECADENCE. IF PARKINSON IS RIGHT, THE WEST IS IN DECAY AND THE EAST IS ON THE RISE. THE DANGER IS THAT THIS TIME MAY BE THE LAST TIME. THIS BOOK WAS SO INFLUENTIAL TO A HISTORY PROFESSOR OF MINE THAT IT IS USED AS THE PRINCIPAL LECTURE CURICULUM FOR HIS COURSE ON WORLD HISTORY. MY VIEWS HAVE ALSO BEEN BROADENED BY ITS STUDY.

Rating:
Summary: HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL
Review: THIS BOOK IS A HISTORY OF THE AGE-OLD CONFLICT BETWEEN EASTERN AND WESTERN SOCIETIES FROM THE GREEKS THROUGH THE CRUSADES TO THE STRUGGLES OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION WITH ISLAM IN OUR OWN DAY. IT IS EXTREMELY WELL PRESENTED AND QUITE PROFOUND IN ITS VIEW OF INTERCULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS AND CONFLICTS AND THE REASONS FOR THOSE SPECIFICALLY OUTLINED. IT PROVIDES THE READER WITH SOMETHING MORE VALUABLE THAN KNOWLEDGE, AND THAT IS AN UNDERSTANDING OF AN ASPECT OF HISTORY AND OF CONTEMPORARY ISSUES THAT MAY WELL DECIDE THE FATE OF MANKIND. PARKINSON LOOKED BEYOND THE COLD-WAR STEREOTYPES THAT DEFINED THE ERA IN WHICH HE WROTE AND WAS BOLD ENOUGH TO INCLUDE RUSSIA IN THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE REAL CONFLICT. RUSSIA'S FATE, SAYS HE, IS INEXTRICABLY TIED TO THE WEST, AND THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE WILL IN FUTURE BE INSTUMENTAL IN HOLDING THE FRONT LINES OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM, BETWEEN AN EASTERN CIVILIZATION EXTENDING FROM CHINA TO THE ARAB STATES OF THE NEAR EAST AND WESTERN CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT. AS IN THE DAYS OF THE CRUSADES, JERUSALEM IS THE SYMBOLIC, AS WELL AS THE TRUE CENTER POINT OF THIS CONFLICT. THE DAYS AHEAD WILL SEE AN EVER-INCREASING TENSION AS THE EAST AND WEST ONCE AGAIN WAR FOR SUPREMACY. THIS SUPREMACY HAD ACTED LIKE A PENDULUM IN HISTORY, EACH SIDE HAVING ITS ALTERNATING PERIODS OF GLORY AND DECADENCE. IF PARKINSON IS RIGHT, THE WEST IS IN DECAY AND THE EAST IS ON THE RISE. THE DANGER IS THAT THIS TIME MAY BE THE LAST TIME. THIS BOOK WAS SO INFLUENTIAL TO A HISTORY PROFESSOR OF MINE THAT IT IS USED AS THE PRINCIPAL LECTURE CURICULUM FOR HIS COURSE ON WORLD HISTORY. MY VIEWS HAVE ALSO BEEN BROADENED BY ITS STUDY.