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In the last thirty years, there have been fierce debates over how civilizations develop and why the West became so powerful.The Measure of Civilizationpresents a brand-new way of investigating these questions and provides new tools for assessing the long-term growth of societies. Using a groundbreaking numerical index of social development that compares societies in different times and places, award-winning author Ian Morris sets forth a sweeping examination of Eastern and Western development across 15,000 years since the end of the last ice age. He offers surprising conclusions about when and why the West came to dominate the world and fresh perspectives for thinking about the twenty-first century. Adapting the United Nations' approach for measuring human development, Morris's index breaks social development into four traits--energy capture per capita, organization, information technology, and war-making capacity--and he uses archaeological, historical, and current government data to quantify patterns. Morris reveals that for 90 percent of the time since the last ice age, the world's most advanced region has been at the western end of Eurasia, but contrary to what many historians once believed, there were roughly 1,200 years--from about 550 to 1750 CE--when an East Asian region was more advanced. Only in the late eighteenth century CE, when northwest Europeans tapped into the energy trapped in fossil fuels, did the West leap ahead. Resolving some of the biggest debates in global history,The Measure of Civilizationputs forth innovative tools for determining past, present, and future economic and social trends.

This article combines an auto-ethnographic approach with literary criticism and applied anthropology. It is about the lives of two men whose journeys through the major events of the twentieth century via different routes and moral choices suggest that literary ends do not always justify the means. Ryszard Kapuscinski (1932-2007), a world-renowned Polish journalist-turned-bestselling author, personally witnessed twenty-seven revolutions and military coups. His travel accounts stretch over five continents and have been widely recognized for their poignant dissection of the human condition. However, recent biographical details and examination of Kapuscinski's reporting methods by social researchers and field anthropologists have raised questions about the credibility and ethics of his works. By comparing his lifework and that of the lesser known Polish cross-cultural traveler exiled to Britain, author Michal Giedroyc (b. 1929), this article contextualizes political and personal dilemmas of both writers. They were born 150 kilometers apart in the multi-ethnic eastern Polish borderlands (now in Lithuania and Belarus). Their childhoods were similarly traumatized by the Nazi-Soviet division of Poland in September 1939. Both of their life journeys brought them into a united Europe in 2005 as Polish and British citizens, respectively.

Only some leeway was given in labeling street signs, where Polish (written in Latin script) was allowed to accompany the Russian Cyrillic names.5 At schools such as the realschule in Warsaw that Alfred attended for something like eight years, Polish students received their lessons - even Polish language instruction - in Russian. His ancestors were among the ancient Polish Counts (or landlords of counties) allowed to use a title in pre-partition Poland.6 As to means, besides the perquisites of his father's position in the Russian Ministry of Communication, the family owned property in Warsaw. [...] with their farm estate, they retained the tradition of the Polish landed nobility. (Alfred's father had inherited another estate as well as other properties in Warsaw but had given them away to his brothers.) Without records, destroyed as the result of two World Wars, Korzybski later estimated Rudnik's size as somewhere from five to eight hundred acres, an average size estate for nobility with means.

Coun Robert Hulland (Con, Silhill) said the concerns \"did not stand up to scrutiny\" and voted, along with the rest of the committee, in favour of the plans. Coun [Alan Martin] (Con, Bickenhill) added: \"At the moment this is a small derelict shop Coun Norman with a nasty alleyway. Coun John Windmill (Lib Dem, Olton) said the objections appeared to be in relation to the off-licence. \"There are no objections to the design of the building,\" he added. Coun Robert Hulland (Con, Silhill) said the concerns \"did not stand up to scrutiny\" and voted, along with the rest of the committee, in favour of the plans. Coun John Windmill (Lib Dem, Olton) said the objections appeared to be in relation to the off-licence. \"There are no objections to the design of the building,\" he added.

  Sir, - Norman Davies (August 19th) recommends that the Taoiseach be got rid of because of the latest opinion poll. The Taoiseach, as Mr Davies says, may not be great at public debate. I remember a previous taoiseach, however, who was brilliant at public debate but the country went broke under his leadership.

  In his new book, \"Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations,\" British historian Norman Davies names \"Kingdom of the Rock\" among 15 Eurasian countries he cites by unfamiliar titles such as \"Litva\" and \"Rusyn.\" They illustrate the dedication of his book to \"those whom historians tend to forget.\" King Dagobert made Paris the capital of \"Neustria\" after the Roman empire fell. He inspired a satirical song that may have been written more than a thousand years after his reign. Roughly translated, it begins: \"Good King Dagobert (the lout!) Put his pants on inside out ...\"

  In his new book, \"Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations,\" British historian Norman Davies names \"Kingdom of the Rock\" among 15 Eurasian countries he cites by unfamiliar titles such as \"Litva\" and \"Rusyn.\" They illustrate the dedication of his book to \"those whom historians tend to forget.\" King Dagobert made Paris the capital of \"Neustria\" after the Roman empire fell. He inspired a satirical song that may have been written more than a thousand years after his reign. Roughly translated, it begins: \"Good King Dagobert (the lout!) Put his pants on inside out ...\"