<Tr> <Th> Media type </Th> <Td> Print (Hardcover and Paperback) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community is a book by University of Chicago historian William H. McNeill, first published in 1963 and enlarged with a retrospective preface in 1991 . It explored world history in terms of the effect different old world civilizations had on one another, and especially the deep influence of Western civilization on the rest of the world in the past 500 years . He argues that societal contact with foreign civilizations is the primary force in driving historical change . In 1964 it won the National Book Award in History and Biography . </P> <P> Part I of The Rise of the West discusses evolutionary prehistory, the breakthrough to civilization in Mesopotamia, the era of Middle Eastern dominance, and the formation of peripheral civilizations in India, Greece, and China to 500 B.C. </P> <P> Part II discusses the Eurasian cultural balance to 1500 AD, including the expansion of Hellenism, the closure of the Eurasian ecumene, the development of major religions, the barbarian onslaught, resurgence of the Middle East, and steppe conquerors . McNeill proposes that the basic engine of world history during this period is the temporary primacy of different regions of the ecumene, with a rough parity reestablished as innovations spread to other centers of civilization . The sequence is Hellenistic / Indian / Islamic / Chinese and Mongol . Generally the eras are structured in terms of the internal history of the dominant region, followed by the history of the rest of the world with a focus on how they reacted to the diffusing techniques and ideas of the dominant region . </P>

When did the rise of the west happen