** Civilization by Niall Ferguson

Civilization: The West and the Rest is a vast, erudite, and ambitious presentation of Western civilization, from its Renaissance overtaking of China to our time, which is presented as its twilight, with China ready to take over. I admired the detailed knowledge and the ability to extract coherent themes from it. I did not always agree with the carefully-chosen omissions, the self-congratulating tone, and the weak puns that try and fail to enliven and modernize the story.
A tour de force, perhaps, but one that did not seem completely honest to me.