Why the West Rules--For Now (111 page)

There is a huge literature on early states. I draw particularly on North 1981; Tilly 1992; Turchin 2009; Scheidel, forthcoming.

Overviews of the East: M. Lewis 2007; F. Li 2006, 2009; Nylan and Loewe 2010; von Falkenhausen 2006; Zhao, forthcoming. Overview of the West:
Cambridge Ancient History,
volumes III–IX, provide enormous detail, with volume 2 of Kuhrt 1995 on western Asia.

The following more focused studies are also valuable:

East—Hsu and Linduff 1988, X. Li 1985, and Z. Wang 1982 are thorough but dated; X. Yang 2004 is a partial update. Zhou bronzes: Rawson 1990, J. So 1995. Zhou social organization: F. Li 2003; Chu, Cook and Major 1999.
Zuozhuan:
Pines 2002. Iron: Wagner 1993, 2001c, 2008. Warfare: Kiser and Cai 2003, 2004; M. Lewis 1990; Yates
et al.
2009; Zhao 2004. Writing: M. Lewis 1999. Qin law: Hulsewé 1985. Monuments: Wu 1995. Qin and Han: M. Lewis 2007, Loewe 2006, Portal 2007. Hui 2005 is a fascinating comparison of Qin and early modern European state formation.

West—on iron: Wertime and Muhly 1980 has not yet been superseded. Huge controversy surrounds anything to do with early Israel; Provan
et al.
2003 generally support the biblical account, while Finkelstein and Silberman 2001, 2006, and Liverani 2005 are more critical. Assyria is not well served by general studies, but see Yamada 2000 on the ninth century, Mattila 2000 on the aristocracy; Oded 1979 on deportations; and Bedford 2009, M. Larsen 1979, Liverani 1995, and Parpola 1997 on the empire. Urartu: Zimansky 1985. Phoenicians: Aubet 2001. Greece: Morris and Powell 2009. Mediterranean colonization: Hodos 2006, Dietler 2010. Monte Polizzo: Morris and Tusa 2004, Mühlenbock 2008. Persia: Bedford 2007, Briant 2002. Alexander: Bosworth 1988. Rome: Eich and Eich 2005, Eckstein 2007. Literacy: W. Harris 1989. Early writing generally: B. Powell 2009. Western empires compared: Morris and Scheidel 2009.

Legitimacy as the difference between mafias and states: Gambetta 1994.

Climate change: Bao
et al.
2004, Garcia
et al.
2007, Issar 2003, Issar and Zahor 2005, Kvavadze and Connor 2005, P. Zheng
et al.
2008. Seasonal mortality: Shaw 1996, Scheidel 2001.

Rise and Fall of the Great Powers:
P. Kennedy 1987.

Axial Age: Jaspers 1949 is the foundational study. B. Schwartz 1975 is the clearest introduction and Armstrong 2006 the most readable survey, but Bellah 2005 is the most perceptive comparative study. Some scholars, such as Hall and Ames (1995a, 1995b), emphasize long-term differences between Chinese and Western thought over similarities; others, such as B. Schwartz 1985 and Roetz 1993, see more unity. I find the second approach (particularly as developed by Puett 2002) much more convincing. Background to Confucius: Shaughnessy 1997, von Falkenhausen 2006. Legalists: Fu 1996. Connections between Chinese schools of thought: K. Holloway 2009. Early Greek philosophy: Graham 2006. Greek democracy and its critics: Ober 1998. There are several excellent comparisons of Greek and Chinese thought (for example, Lloyd 2002, Lloyd and Sivin 2002, T. Martin 2009, Shankman and Durant 2000, and Sim 2007). Akhenaten and Moses: Freud 1955, Assmann 2008.

Rome-China contacts: Leslie and Gardiner 1996, Mair 2006. Vagnari DNA:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/news/ambassador-or-slave-east-asian-skeleton-discovered-in-vagnari-roman-cemetery-1879551.html
,
The Independent,
January 26, 2010. Finds in Egypt: Cappers 1999. Finds at Arikamedu: Begley 1996.
Voyage on the Red Sea
: Casson 1989. Silk Roads: F. Wood 2002. Bactria: Holt 1999. Steppe highway: Beckwith 2009, Christian 1998, Kohl 2007, Koryakova and Epimakhov 2007. Parthia: Curtis and Stewart 2007. Nomads and China: Barfield 1989; Di Cosmo 2002; Lovell 2006, pp. 66–116.

6. DECLINE AND FALL

Overviews of the East: M. Lewis 2007, 2009a. West: Garnsey and Saller 1987 remains the best survey of the earlier Roman Empire, and Cameron 1993a, 1993b of the later empire. Since the 1960s many Roman historians have rejected “decline-and-fall” theories of late Roman history (see particularly Brown 1971, 1978), but more recently historians and archaeologists (for example, Goldsworthy 2009, Heather 2005, Jongman 2007b, McCormick 2001, Ward-Perkins 2005) have insisted—as I do here—on the fall in social development after 200
CE.

Han and Roman divine kingship: Puett 2002 and Price 1984. Roman triumphs: Beard 2007. Confucian moral cultivation: Ivanhoe 2000.

Adshead 2000, pp. 4–21, makes interesting comparisons between the Han and Roman empires. Mutschler and Mittag 2009 and Scheidel 2009a are the first systematic English-language studies.

Eastern economic growth: Bray 1984, Hsu 1980, Peng 1999, Wagner 2001c. Western growth: Bowman and Wilson 2009, de Callatay 2005, Manning and Morris 2005, Scheidel
et al.
2007, Scheidel 2009, A. Wilson 2009, and the ongoing work of the Oxford Roman Economy Project (
http://oxrep.classics.ox.ac.uk/index.php
). Roman and Han economic growth compared: Scheidel 2009b. Greek and Roman standards of living: Morris 2004, Saller 2002. Han houses: Guo 2010. Comparison of Roman and Han housing: Razeto 2008.

Sources for
Figures 6.2
and
6.6
: A. Parker 1992, Kylander
et al.
2005.

Monte Testaccio:
http://ceipac.gh.ub.es/MOSTRA/u_expo.htm
(consulted December 4, 2007). Western golden age: Scheidel 2007, Jongman 2007a.

Columbian Exchange: Crosby 1972. The best book on the history of disease remains McNeill 1976. Roman epidemics: Scheidel 2002, Sallares 2007. Athenian plague of 430
BCE:
Papagrigorakis
et al.
2006.

Climate change: see the works cited in
Chapter 5
, plus Bao
et al.
2004, Garcia
et al.
2007, Ge
et al.
2003, and B. Yang
et al.
2002.

Qiang: M. Wang 1999. Chinese frontiers: Lattimore 1940 remains a classic. Roman frontiers: Whittaker 1994.

China after the Han: De Crespigny 1984; A. Dien 1990, 2007; Eberhard 1965; M. Lewis 2009a; S. Pearce
et al.
2001; L. Yang 1961. Stirrups: A. Dien 1986.

Roman animal bones: Jongman 2007b, Ikeguchi 2007. General Western economic decline: McCormick 2001, pp. 25–119; MacMullen 1988, pp. 1–57.

Sassanid Persia: Daryaee 2009. Rome and Persia: Dignas and Winter 2007. Rome’s Gothic Wars: Kulikowski 2006. Fifth-century Gaul: Drinkwater and Elton 1992. Fall of the western Roman Empire: Goldsworthy 2009, Heather 2005, Kelly 2009, Ward-Perkins 2005. Post-Roman western Europe: Cameron 1993b, McCormick 2001, McKitterick 2001, Wickham 2005.

Third-century Chinese culture: Balazs 1964, pp. 173–254; Holcombe 1994. Chinese Buddhism: Gernet 1995, X. Liu 1988, Zürcher 2007. Coming of Christianity: Brown 1971, 1978, Lane Fox 1986. Johnson and Johnson 2007 treat Buddhism and Christianity (plus Islam) comparatively. Late Roman art: Elsner 1999, Trimble 2009. Monasticism: Bechert and Gombrich 1984, Dunn 2000. Conversion: MacMullen 1984, Morrison 1992.
Figure 6.9
builds on the approach in Hopkins 1998. Imperial adaptations to Christianity: Brown 1992, Fowden 1993.

7. THE EASTERN AGE

Overviews of the East before the Sui dynasty: A. Dien, 1990, 2007; Eisenberg 2008; Gernet 1995; Graff 2002; M. Lewis 2009a; Pearce et al; 2001. Sui dynasty: Wright 1978, Xiong 2006. Tang dynasty: Adshead 2004, M. Lewis 2009b, Perry and Smith 1976, Rozman 1973, Wright and Twitchett 1973, Xiong 2000. “Five Dynasties” period: G. Wang 2007. Northern Song dynasty: Haeger 1975, Hymes and Schirokauer 1993, D. Kuhn 2009. On the whole period 900–1100: Mote 1999.

Essential methods: Bray 2001. Rice in Eastern history generally: Bray 1984, 1986.

Wu Zetian: Guisso 1978, D. Dien 2003, Barrett 2008.

DNA study of Yu Hong: Xie
et al.
2007.

Chinese ships: Needham 1971; McGrail 2001, pp. 346–93.

Exams and civil service: Chaffee 1985, Kracke 1968, McMullen 1988.

Eastern expansion: Abramson 2007, Holcombe 2001, Piggott 1997, von Glahn 1987, von Verschuer 2006.

Epidemics in seventh-century China: Twitchett 1979.

Java Sea shipwrecks: Flecker 2002, V. Lieberman 2003.

Elvin 1973, Hartwell 1967 and 1982, and Shiba and Elvin 1970 make the case for rapid economic growth in eleventh-century China. Golas 1988, P. Smith 1994, and Smith and von Glahn 2003 question some parts of this position. Finances: von Glahn 1996, 2004. Coal and iron: Golas 1999; Wagner 2001a, 2008. Trade: P. Smith 1991; Textiles: Bray 1997; Chao 1977; Mokyr 1990, pp. 209–38. Eleventh-century Neo-Confucianism: Bol 1992, 2009; X. Ji 2005; D. Kuhn 2009; T. Lee 2004.

Western social and economic trends to 900: McCormick 2001; Wickham 2005, 2009.

Justinian: Maas 2005, O’Donnell 2008. Byzantine economy (particularly Egypt): Banaji 2001, Hickey 2007, Laiou and Morrison 2007, Sarris 2006. Robert Graves’s 1938 novel
Count Belisarius
is still well worth reading. Plague: Keys 2000, Little 2007, S. Rosen 2007, Sarris 2002, Stathakopoulos 2004. Khusrau and Heraclius: Dignas and Winter 2007, Haldon 1997, Kaegi 2003, Whittow 1996.

General accounts of Arabic history: Hourani 2003, Lapidus 2002. Pre-Islamic Arabia: Hoyland 2001. Muhammad: M. Cook 1983, Mattson 2007, Peters 1994. Muslim conquests: Donner 1981, Kaegi 1992, Pourshariati 2008. The caliphate: Crone and Hinds 1986; H. Kennedy 2004a, 2004b, 2007; Madelung 1997; Walmsley 2007. Al-Ma’mun: Cooperson 2005.

Egypt: Walker 2002. Cairo trade documents: Goitein 1967–88. Ghosh 1992 gives a delightful personal account.

Ninth-century Turkish slave armies: M. Gordon 2001. Seljuks: D. Morgan 1988.

Islamic economies: A. Watson 1982.

Charlemagne: Barbero 2004, Hodges and Whitehouse 1983, Verhulst 2002. Sypeck 2006 is an entertaining comparative account. The eighth-century West generally: Hansen and Wickham 2000.

Expansion of Europe: Bartlett 1993, Jordan 2001, McKitterick 2001, R. Moore 2000. Henry IV and Gregory VII: Blumenthal 1988. Persecuting society: R. Moore 1987. Age of cathedrals: Duby 1981. Christian scholarship: Colish 1997. Vikings: Christiansen 2006. Normans in Italy: Matthew 1992, Loud 2000, and the vivid account in Norwich 1992. Italian city-states: D. Waley 1988. Crusades: Maalouf 1984, Tyerman 2006. Old World migrations generally: A. Lewis 1988.

Medieval Warm Period: Fagan 2008 is a readable account; Kerr
et al.
2005 treat the causes. Temperatures: Oppo
et al.
2009. China: Chu
et al.
2002, J. Ji
et al.
2005,

Qian and Zhu 2002, D. Zhang 1994, P. Zheng
et al.
2008.

8. GOING GLOBAL

Marco Polo: Haw 2006, Jackson 1998. Fall of Kaifeng: Lorge 2005, pp. 51–54. Jurchens: Tillman and West 1995. Huizong: Ebrey and Bickford 2006.

Mongols: Allsen 2004, Amitai-Rice and Morgan 2001, di Cosmo
et al.
2009, Rossabi 1988. China under the Mongols: Langlois 1981, Smith and von Glahn 2003, and Brook 2010. Recent accounts of the Mongols tend to emphasize the positive results of their opening East-West communications over the negative results of their devastating large parts of Asia.

Movement across the Silk Roads and Indian Ocean: Abu-Lughod 1989; Chaudhuri 1985, 1990; Wood 2002. S. Gordon 2006 describes some individual travelers.

Joseph Needham et al.’s
Science and Civilisation in China,
which began appearing in 1954 and is still ongoing, is a massive (in fact, overwhelming) compendium of Chinese science and technology with explicit discussions of borrowing between West and East. Hobson 2004 describes the major transfers more briefly and perhaps overstates the Western debt to the East. Islamic technology: Hassan and Hill 1986. Guns and ships: Lorge 2005, McNeill 1982, Needham
et al.
1986.

There is a massive bibliography on the Black Death in Europe. Benedictow 2004 discusses death rates, Herlihy 1997 considers consequences, and Ziegler 1969 and Hatcher 2008 provide readable narratives. Much less is available on the Muslim world (Dols 1976 is the classic account) or the East. McNeill 1976 remains the best comparative discussion.

Start of the Little Ice Age: Bond
et al.
2001; X. Liu
et al.
2007; Mangini
et al.
2005, 2007; Qian and Zhu 2002; E. Zhang
et al.
2004; P. Zheng
et al.
2008. Fagan 2004b gives a general account; Jordan 1996 focuses on western Europe.

Crisis of the Christian church: Oakley 1979. Tuchmann 1978 vividly describes fourteenth-century Europe.

Tamerlane: Manz 1989.

Early Ottoman Empire: Barkey 1997, Finkel 2005, Imber 2004, Inalcik and Quataert 1994. Fall of Constantinople: Nicolle
et al.
2007, Runciman 1990.

Growth of Southeast Asia: Christie 1998, V. Lieberman 2003.

Rise of the Ming: Dreyer 1982. Zheng He: Levathes 1994, Dreyer 2006. On ships, McGrail 2002, pp. 380–81, 390–92.