"Jonathan Daly's new odyssey of the rise of the West represents a renewed effort to map up the internal conditions that have made the West so special in the world history. The author's panorama view which covers the whole spectrum of the factors in favour of the West can be boiled down to a single term: 'revolutions', either in human mind or in social institutions and they came one after another tirelessly since the previously misunderstood 'Dark Ages'. In this context, lucks and chances played much less important role, if at all. The author's narrative therefore spells out the secret of the rise of the West in a highly consistent and coherent fashion. Curious reader may of course ask where the drive for so many revolutions in the West has come from. This will be the author's next project, hopefully." -- Kent Deng, Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics, UK "How did Western Europe, which was once less developed than the Muslim world and China, become scientific and economic leader of the world? Jonathan Daly's comprehensive and incisive book effectively analyzes not only the rise of Western arts, philosophy, printing, navigation, science, political institutions, and technology, but also Western vices such as colonization, slavery, and wars." -- Ahmet T.

Kuru, Professor of Political Science, San Diego State University, USA.