Ferguson investigates the influence of the West and its hold over the rest of the world since 1500 A.D. The way people live - or aspire to live - is unmistakably an invention of the West. All over the world, more and more humans eat a Western diet, wear Western clothes and live in Western housing. The religion exported by the West, Christianity, is still followed by a third of mankind. But are we living through the beginning of the end of the West's ascendancy? In this remarkable series, Niall Ferguson explains how by juxtaposing the West and the Rest', we can uncover the keys - the six killer applications - of Western ascendancy: Competition, Science, Democracy, Medicine, Consumerism, and Work Ethic. These keys may hold the real explanation of how, for roughly five centuries, a clear minority of mankind managed to secure the lion's share of the Earths resources.
