Why the West Rules--For Now (154 page)

^*
Medievalists may be surprised to see the Western score in Table A.1 stay at 26,000 kcal/cap/day between 1000 and 1400, when (as is well known) western European society was expanding vigorously; but the Western scores in this period actually represent the core in the Muslim eastern Mediterranean, which went through a period of stagnation (described in
Chapter 7
). Western European energy capture remained below 25,000 kcal/cap/day throughout these centuries, catching up with the Mediterranean world only in the fifteenth century.

^*
I should stress again that my basic, medium, and full literacy categories set the bar much lower than twenty-first-century literacy providers would do. Anyone able to fill out a modern job application or a tax return would rank well up in the full category.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction

PART I

1 Before East and West

2 The West Takes the Lead

3 Taking the Measure of the Past

PART II

4 The East Catches Up

5 Neck and Neck

6 Decline and Fall

7 The Eastern Age

8 Going Global

9 The West Catches Up

10 The Western Age

PART III

11 Why the West Rules …

12 … For Now

Appendix: On Social Development

Notes

Further Reading

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index