Book of the month: Ferguson marches on

Ring the bells for a very famous popular historian. Niall Ferguson latest book, Civilisation: the West and Rest, was published yesterday and it is this month’s Spectator book club book of the month. (The accompanying TV series begins on Sunday)

Already the book is being debated. Ferguson has long had his detractors in academia – a mix of envious aristarchy and thoughtful criticism. Professional reviewers are beginning to have doubts too. Writing in the magazine a few weeks ago, Sam Leith illustrated how Ferguson had overstretched himself with Civilisation. And a reviewer in the Scotsman felt Ferguson’s neo-conservatism has prejudiced his approach to evidence. Essentially, both reviewers are suggesting that this book is a treatise in political economy, not a history; that the definition of ‘civilisation’ is too narrow and he tries to force far too much into it.

Not that this matters, really. Ferguson’s charm is never to be boring.