The Undivided Past (53 page)

  60.
McNeill,
Toynbee
, pp. 98–109.

  61.
Toynbee,
Western Question
, pp. 22, 36, 362–63.

  62.
Ibid., p. 334; A. J. Toynbee,
A Study of History
, 2 vol. abridgment by D. C. Somervell (London, 1947–57), vol. 1, p. 35; McNeill,
Toynbee
, pp. 102, 110; A. J. Toynbee,
Civilization on Trial
(Oxford, 1948), pp. 9–10.

  63.
Toynbee,
Western Question
, pp. 12, 327–46.

  64.
McNeill,
Toynbee
, pp. 99–100, 110–12.

  65.
For Toynbee’s criticism of Spengler on this score, see Toynbee,
Study of History
, vol. 1, pp. 210–11, 248–51.

  66.
Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 275–76.

  67.
A. J. Toynbee,
Experiences
(New York, 1969), pp. 10, 200–203. For Toynbee’s disagreements with Gibbon, see W. H. Walsh, “The End of a Great Work,” in A. Montagu, ed.,
Toynbee and History: Critical Essays and Reviews
(Boston, 1956), pp. 125–26.

  68.
Toynbee explicitly criticizes Gibbon along these lines in
Study of History
, vol. 1, pp. 260–62; vol. 2, pp. 19, 77–79; Toynbee,
Civilization on Trial
, pp. 226–31. For “vultures” (and “maggots”), see Toynbee,
Study of History
, vol. 1, p. 14. See also McNeill,
Toynbee
, p. 177; Editorial, “Vicisti, Galilaee,”
Times Literary Supplement
, August 19, 1939, p. 491.

  69.
McNeill,
Toynbee
, pp. 164–65, 254–61. For contemporary anthologies of criticisms of Toynbee, see P. Geyl, A. J. Toynbee, and P. A. Sorokin,
The Pattern of the Past: Can We Determine It?
(Boston, 1949); Montagu,
Toynbee and History
; E. T. Gargan, ed.,
The Intent of Toynbee’s History
(Chicago, 1961). For other critiques, see also Braudel,
On History
, pp. 189–97; R. Davenport-Hines, ed.,
Letters from Oxford: Hugh Trevor-Roper to Bernard Berenson
(London, 2006), pp. 234–37, 243.

  70.
Toynbee,
Civilization on Trial
, p. 55.

  71.
McNeill,
Toynbee
, p. 166; W. Kaufmann, “Toynbee and Super-History,” in Montagu,
Toynbee and History
, pp. 306–10.

  72.
Toynbee,
Study of History
, vol. 2, pp. 87–93, 109–13; Toynbee,
Civilization on Trial
, pp. 213–52. See also E. Voegelin, “Toynbee’s
History
as a Search for Truth,” in Gargan,
Intent of Toynbee’s History
, pp. 183–98; P. Geyl, “Toynbee as Prophet,” in Montagu,
Toynbee and History
, pp. 360–77.

  73.
Toynbee,
Study of History
, vol. 1, pp. 551–54; Toynbee,
Civilization on Trial
, p. 41.

  74.
McNeill,
Toynbee
, pp. 205–61.

  75.
D. A. Segal, “ ‘Western Civ’ and the Staging of History in American Higher Education,”
American Historical Review
105 (2000): 779–83,
785–88; G. Allardyce, “The Rise and Fall of the Western Civilization Course,”
American Historical Review
87 (1982): 695–96, 703–16.

  76.
McNeill,
Toynbee
, pp. 213–19.

  77.
Ibid., pp. 94, 161, 213; Toynbee,
Experiences
, pp. 233–39, 261–67.

  78.
Toynbee,
Study of History
, vol. 2, pp. 302–31; Toynbee,
Civilization on Trial
, p. 56. Pieter Geyl regarded the final volumes of
A Study of History
as “a blasphemy against Western Civilization” because Toynbee “will have it that Western Civilization is doomed, and indeed why should he care? Western Civilization means nothing to him.” See Geyl, “Toynbee as Prophet,” pp. 363–64, 377.

  79.
See, for example, P. Bagby,
Culture and History: Prolegomena to the Comparative Study of Civilizations
(London, 1958); C. Quigley,
The Evolution of Civilizations: An Introduction to Historical Analysis
(New York, 1961); M. Melko,
The Nature of Civilizations
(Boston, 1969); C. H. Brough,
The Cycle of Civilization: A Scientific, Determinist Analysis of Civilization, Its Social Basis, Patterns and Projected Future
(Detroit, 1965).

  80.
B. Mathews,
Young Islam on Trek: A Study in the Clash of Civilizations
(New York, 1926), pp. 41, 196, 216–18; R. W. Bulliet,
The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization
(New York, 2004), pp. 1–4.

  81.
B. Lewis, “The Roots of Muslim Rage,”
Atlantic Monthly
, September 1990, pp. 56, 60. Lewis had first used the phrase much earlier, in 1957; see R. Bonney,
False Prophets: The “Clash of Civilizations” and the Global War on Terror
(Oxford, 2008), p. 54.

  82.
S. Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations?”
Foreign Affairs
72 (1993): 22–49; Huntington,
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
(London, 1997).

  83.
Huntington,
Clash of Civilizations
, pp. 12–13, 40.

  84.
Ibid., pp. 21, 26–27, 29, 44–47.

  85.
Ibid., pp. 55, 47.

  86.
Ibid., pp. 13, 321.

  87.
Ibid., pp. 71–72, 301–11.

  88.
Ibid., pp. 20–21, 34, 183.

  89.
Ibid., p. 312.

  90.
A. Sen,
The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity
(London, 2005), pp. 136–37.

  91.
Huntington,
Clash of Civilizations
, p. 29.

  92.
Ibid., pp. 46–47, 56; Fernández-Armesto,
Civilizations
, p. 23.

  93.
Huntington,
Clash of Civilizations
, p. 135.

  94.
Ibid., pp. 137–38.

  95.
Sen,
Argumentative Indian
, pp. 54, 302, 308. Sen himself always takes (wholly justified) exception to being categorized as a “Hindu economist.”

  96.
Sen,
Argumentative Indian
, pp. 76, 284–87.

  97.
F. Halliday,
Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: Religion and Politics in the Middle East
(London, 2003 ed.), p. xii.

  98.
Sen,
Argumentative Indian
, pp. 55–56. For a fuller discussion of these matters by the same author, see A. Sen,
Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny
(New York, 2006), esp. pp. 1–17, 40–58.

  99.
Huntington,
Clash of Civilizations
, pp. 43, 66–67; D. W. Wengrow,
What Makes Civilization? The Ancient Near East and the Future of the West
(Oxford, 2010), pp. xvii–xviii, 12–13.

100.
W. H. McNeill, “Decline of the West?”
New York Review of Books
, January 9, 1997, pp. 18–22; K. A. Appiah,
Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers
(New York, 2006).

101.
For useful surveys of the responses to Huntington, and subsequent writings, see J. O’Hagan, “Beyond the Clash of Civilizations?”
Australian Journal of International Affairs
59 (2005): 383–400; B. Bhutto,
Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West
(London, 2008), pp. 233–73; Bonney,
False Prophets
, pp. 48–51; Todorov,
Fear of Barbarians
, pp. 86–99.

102.
R. E. Rubenstein and J. Crocker, “Challenging Huntington,”
Foreign Policy
, no. 96 (1994): 113–28; S. M. Walt, “Building Up New Bogeymen,”
Foreign Policy
, no. 106 (1997): 176–89.

103.
J. Fox, “Two Civilizations and Ethnic Conflict: Islam and the West,”
Journal of Peace Research
38 (2001): 459–72; R. Inglehart and P. Norris, “The True Clash of Civilizations,”
Foreign Policy
, no. 135 (2003).

104.
B. Russett, J. Oneal, and M. Cox, “Clash of Civilizations or Realism and Liberalism Déjà Vu? Some Evidence,”
Journal of Peace Research
37 (2000): 583–608; E. A. Henderson and R. Tucker, “Clear and Present Strangers: The Clash of Civilizations and International Conflict,”
International Studies Quarterly
45 (2001): 317–38; N. Ferguson,
Civilization: The West and the Rest
(London, 2011), pp. 313–14.

105.
Huntington,
Clash of Civilizations
, p. 30. The role of the neocon intellectuals in promoting (and in some ways misrepresenting) the Huntington thesis is fully discussed in Bonney,
False Prophets
, chs. 3, 4, 6.

106.
E. Abrahamian, “The US Media, Huntington, and September 11,”
Third World Quarterly
24 (2003): 529–44; Bonney,
False Prophets
, p. 40.

107.
Bonney,
False Prophets
, chs. 7, 8; D. Reynolds,
America, Empire of Liberty: A New History
(London, 2009), pp. 558–61.

108.
Bonney,
False Prophets
, pp. x, 2–3; Todorov,
Fear of Barbarians
, pp. 90–92.

109.
Bonney,
False Prophets
, pp. 5–9; C. Hitchens, “What I’ve Learnt,”
Times Magazine
(London), July 25, 2010, p. 6.

110.
Sen,
Identity and Violence
, p. 68.

111.
S. Halper and J. Clarke,
America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order
(Cambridge, 2004), esp. pp. 331–32.

112.
R. Sanders, “Iraq: The Blair Mission,”
Prospect
, February 2010, p. 25; P. Toynbee, “Forgotten Lessons,”
Guardian
, March 28, 2003; P. Riddell, “Forget the Money, It’s the Political Costs That Will Hurt,”
Times
(London), March 27, 2003.

113.
Bonney,
False Prophets
, p. 47.

114.
D. Milliband, “ ‘War on Terror’ Was Wrong,”
Guardian
, January 15, 2009.

115.
Editorial, “End of the Clash of Civilizations,”
New York Times
, April 12, 2009;
http​:/​/www​.whitehouse​.gov​/the_press_office​/Remarks​-by​-President​-Obama​-to​-the​-Turkish​-Parliament​-4​-06​-09​
.

116.
http:​//​www​.whitehouse​.gov​/the_press_office​/Remarks​-by​-the​-President​-at​-Cairo-University​-6​-04​-09
. For another approach, see J. Sacks,
The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations
(London, 2002).

117.
J. S. Mill,
Essays on Politics and Culture
(London, 1962 ed.), pp. 51–52; Ferguson,
Civilization
, p. xxvii.

118.
Bulliet,
Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization
, pp. 1–9.

119.
Fernández-Armesto,
Civilizations
, pp. 25–26.

120.
Bonney,
False Prophets
, pp. 224–29.

121.
Sen,
Identity and Violence
, pp. 16–21; Bonney,
False Prophets
, pp. 229–31.

122.
K. Clark,
Civilisation: A Personal View
(London, 1969), pp. xvii, 1–7.

123.
A. Kuper, “Culture and Identity Politics,”
British Academy Review
9 (2006): 6; D. Senghaas, “A Clash of Civilizations—An Idée Fixe?”
Journal of Peace Studies
35 (1998): 127–32. For a recent example of the continued appeal of the Manichean view of the world, see N. Cliff,
Holy War: How Vasco da Gama’s Epic Voyages Turned the Tide in a Centuries-Old Clash of Civilizations
(London, 2011).

    1.
J. Black, “Contesting the Past,”
History
93 (2008): 227.

    2.
E. S. Morgan,
Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America
(New York, 1988), pp. 13–15.

    3.
A. Sen,
Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny
(New York, 2006), pp. xii–xiii.

    4.
Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach” in M. Arnold,
The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840–1867
(London, 1913), pp. 401–02; M. MacMillan,
Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History
(New York, 2009), p. 43.

    5.
For two contrasting views of the “fall” of apartheid, see H. Giliomee, “Surrender Without Defeat: Afrikaners and the South African ‘Miracle,’ ”
Daedalus
, no. 126 (Spring 1997): 113–46; G. M. Fredrickson, “The Strange Death of Segregation,”
New York Review of Books
, May 6, 1999, pp. 36–38.

    6.
R. Kipling, “We and They,” in
Debits and Credits
(London, 1926), pp. 263–64.

    7.
W. Cantwell Smith, “Christianity’s Third Great Challenge,”
Christian Century
, April 27, 1960, pp. 505–08.

    8.
V. S. Naipaul,
India: A Million Mutinies Now
(London, 1998), p. 395.

    9.
For some recent and honorable exceptions, see S. Pinker,
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
(New York, 2011); S. Bowles and H. Gintis,
A Cooperative Species: Human Reciprocity and Its Evolution
(Princeton, 2011); M. Pagel,
Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Human Co-operation
(London, 2012); R. Sennett,
Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Co-operation
(London, 2012). Significantly, none of these authors is an historian: Pinker is a psychologist, Bowles and Gintis are behavioral scientists, Pagel is an evolutionary biologist, and Sennett a sociologist.

  10.
T. Bender,
A Nation Among Nations: America’s Place in World History
(New York, 2006), p. 301.

  11.
J. H. Plumb,
The Death of the Past
(London, 1969), p. 141.

  12.
W. G. Runciman, “Altruists at War,”
London Review of Books
, February 23, 2012, p. 19; J. H. Elliott, “Rats or Cheese?,”
New York Review of Books
, June 26, 1980, p. 39.

  13.
W. H. McNeill, “Mythistory, or Truth, Myth, History, and Historians,”
American Historical Review
91 (1986): 7.

  14.
U. Frevert, “European Identifications: What European History Can and Cannot Contribute,”
European Studies Forum
(Spring 2008): 12–21.