Uniqueness of Western Civilization

Ricardo Duchesne, Ph.D (1994) in Social & Political Thought, York University, is Professor of Sociology at The University of New Brunswick, Saint John, Canada. He has published numerous articles on the rise of the West.

The most significant and comprehensive contribution to a post-multicultural world history is to be found in the work of Ricardo Duchesne, particularly his new book The Uniqueness of Western Civilization (2011). Like its subject-matter, this book is unique, wide-ranging, and highly contentious.Martin Hewson, Cliodynamics, Vol. 3, No 2 (2012), pp. 306-324The book raises many provocative questions, some of which might be answered through further research. Despite my stylistic critiques, the book shows a very wide range of scholarship and many deft syntheses. It is an impressive book.Thomas D. Hall,, International Journal of Comparative Sociology 2012 53: 143The Uniqueness of Western Civilization is every inch the embodiment of the striving spirit the author finds so characteristic of the endeavors of Western man -- a hankering after high achievement and a wish to make one’s mark through the overthrow of accepted opinion. But Duchesne is no polemicist. For all its argumentative power, The Uniqueness of Western Civilization is old-school scholarship at its best; consequential, closely reasoned, richly evidenced, and professionally courteous.Stephen H. Balch, president of the National Association of Scholars (http://www.nas.org/articles/nowhere_but_the_west; January 2012).This is a persuasive volume, utterly crushing in its marshalling of evidence, yet consistently fluent and remarkable in the author’s willingness to trace every constituent argument to its source...Duchesne’s book may persuade readers to ponder on the ineffable nature of the human soul. It will certainly become an indispensable reference on the great passages of history.Eric Jones, Policy, Vol. 27, No. 4 (2011-12), pp. 61-63Going against mainstream humanities and social sciences scholarship...Duchesne takes the discussion of the European Miracle to a new historical and philosophical level by viewing such issues as Europe's modern economic advancement and its political decentralization as fractions of a bigger question: What are the general sources of the rise of European creativity?Andrei Znamenski, Professor at the University of MenphisWorld historians should read Duchesne's controversial book and join him in debate. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.D.M. Fahey, Choice, November 2011

• Preface1. The Fall of Western Civilization and the Rise of Multicultural World History2. Eurocentrism over Sinocentrism3. Whence the Industrial Divergence?4. The Continuous Creativity of Europe5. The ‘Rise’ of Western Reason and Freedom6. The Restlessness of the Western Spirit from a Hegelian Perspective7. The Aristocratic Egalitarianism of Indo-Europeans and the Primordial Origins of Western Civilization8. The Emergence of the Self from the Western ‘State of Nature’ and the Conciliation of Christianity and Aristocratic Liberty Cited WorksIndexExtensive table of contents can be downloaded under "Extra" on the right.