This superb book gatherer bands to (b) small agricultural societies to (c) larger agricultural civilizations to (d) modern rationalized and industrialized societies. Modernization in particular has resulted in many beneficial changes which have raised average standard of living and produced high culture, but has also resulted in considerable intensification of population pressure, environmental impact, social instability, social inequality, and competition and conflict.

More generally, Chirot argues that, since social change is an evolutionary process, governed page book packs as much punch as a typical book two or three times longer, so the book should be read slowly and carefully, allowing plenty of time ponder and absorb. To top it off, the book is enjoyably readable, even engrossing, despite the compression. I wish all books were written like this!

Very highly recommended to anyone seeking to better understand how the (social) world works, thereby putting current affairs in a useful sociohistorical context. In fact, this book should be mandatory reading for anyone involved in politics and/or public policy.

Daniel Chirot is a follower of Talcott Parsons. While he does not reveal this fact until his final chapter, it is evident throughout, both in the book's conserative assumptions and its oddly-difficult writing. Nonetheless, it does cover an enormous amount of ground in a small amount of space and is certainly more readable than some books on the subject.

I've looked far and wide for a boad brush description of cultures that among other things would explain why the west is currently ascendant, something much more detailed than just saying "Industrial Revolution," yet still accessible to a generalist. I finally found it in this slim volume. Apparently targeted at college sociology course reading lists, it also serves the curious general reader quite well.

It's pleasing and intellectually satisfying to have such a broad sweep laid out so succinctly. This book avoids the pole of too much depth and erudition--hundreds and hundreds of pages of rather obscure analysis, parts of which are outdated or irrelevant. One need only browse the references in this book to see the difference between its sources and itself. Materials written -simply saying Industrial Revolution as if that answered all questions.

A brief description of how very early human societies (hunter gatherer) were organized opens the book. Next it discusses agrarian societies in some depth: how did they come about? how widespread were they? how did various people live in them? what problems did they bring? Then it covers the question of why the west grew to dominate, including the historical roots of how it happened, relationship to enlightenment ideas, the economic transformation at the base of the dominance, and its consequences (empires, nationalism, the importance of commerce, etc.). Next the modern era is analyzed in some detail: industrial cycles and their effect on various states, other political movements such as Marxism and facism, and a short discussion of ecological pressures. The conclusion is a combination of an explicit description of the underlying theory, listing of a few problems that may be faced in the future, and a summing up of the approach to social change illustrated throughout the book.

Of course many of the points the book makes in its context also touch peripherally on other fields ...but the book doesn't lose its focus generalized the problems of the first industrial cycle (based on textiles) to suggest solutions that were increasingly mismatched to the problems of later industrial cycles. And iii) warfare was the only realistic way to compare the strength of different agrarian cultures.