Ian Morris (historian)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ian Matthew Morris (born 27 January 1960) is a British
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
,
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
, and Willard Professor of Classics at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
.


Early life

Morris was born on 27 January 1960 in
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
, Staffordshire, England. He attended Alleyne's High School, a
comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...
in Stone, Staffordshire. He studied at the
University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
, graduating with a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
(BA) degree in 1981. He undertook a
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
(PhD) degree at the
University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, graduating in 1985. His doctoral thesis was titled "Burial and society at Athens, 1100-500 BC".


Career

From 1987 to 1995, he taught at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. Since 1995, he has been at Stanford. Since joining Stanford, he has served as Associate Dean of Humanities and Sciences, Chair of the Classics Department, and Director of the Social Science History Institute. He was one of the founders of the Stanford Archaeology Center and has served two terms as its director. He has published extensively on the history and the archaeology of the
ancient Mediterranean The history of the Mediterranean region and of the cultures and people of the Mediterranean Basin is important for understanding the origin and development of the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Canaanite, Phoenician, Hebrew, Carthaginian, Minoan, Greek, ...
and on
world history World history may refer to: * Human history, the history of human beings * History of Earth, the history of planet Earth * World history (field), a field of historical study that takes a global perspective * ''World History'' (album), a 1998 albu ...
. He has also won a Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2009. Between 2000 and 2007, he directed Stanford's
excavation Excavation may refer to: * Excavation (archaeology) * Excavation (medicine) * ''Excavation'' (The Haxan Cloak album), 2013 * ''Excavation'' (Ben Monder album), 2000 * ''Excavation'' (novel), a 2000 novel by James Rollins * '' Excavation: A Memo ...
at
Monte Polizzo Monte Polizzo (today Mount ''Polizo'') is an archaeological site located 6 km northwest of the town of Salemi, in the province of Trapani, western Sicily, southern Italy. It occupies an easily defended hilltop, from which a vast area of western ...
,
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. He has been awarded research fellowships from the
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been ...
,
Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and ...
,
National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
, Center for Hellenic Studies in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, and Institute for Research in the Humanities,
University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
. He is also a Corresponding Fellow of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
and has been awarded honorary degrees by
De Pauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...
and Birmingham University. In 2012 his work was the subject of a lengthy profile in the '' Chronicle of Higher Education''. He delivered the Tanner Lectures on Human Values at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
in 2012. Ian Morris plans to develop his views on the first-millennium BC transformations (the shift from religion-based power to bureaucratic and military one, and the rise of Axial thought) in his new book.


''Why the West Rules—For Now''

His 2010 book, ''Why the West Rules—For Now'', compares East and
West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
across the last 15,000 years, arguing that
physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, h ...
, rather than culture, religion, politics,
genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...
, or great men, explains Western domination of the globe. ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'' has called it "an important book—one that challenges, stimulates and entertains. Anyone who does not believe there are lessons to be learned from history should start here." The book won several literary awards, including the 2011
PEN Center USA PEN Center USA was a branch of PEN, an international literary and human rights organization. It was one of two PEN International Centers in the United States, the other being the PEN America in New York City. On March 1, 2018, PEN Center USA unifi ...
Literary Award for Creative Nonfiction, and was named as one of the books of the year by
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
,
Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...
,
Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
,
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
, and a number of other newspapers. It has been translated into 13 languages.


''The Measure of Civilization''

''The Measure of Civilization'' is a companion volume to ''Why the West Rules—For Now''. It provides details of the evidence and the statistical methods used by Morris to construct the social development index that he used in ''Why the West Rules'' to compare long-term Eastern and Western history. The International Studies Association and
Social Science History Association The Social Science History Association, formed in 1976, brings together scholars from numerous disciplines interested in social history. : Its statement of purpose is: "To bring together members of various disciplines (including economics, sociolo ...
devoted panels to discussing the book at their 2013 annual meetings. The book is being translated into Chinese.


''War! What is it Good For?''

''War! What is it Good For?: Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots'' was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in the US and
Profile Books Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes non-fiction subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current events, current affairs, travel and popular science. Profile Books is distribu ...
in Britain in April 2014. Morris argues that there is enough evidence to trace the history of violence across many thousands of years and that a startling fact emerges. For all of its horrors, over the last 10,000 years, war has made the world safer and richer, as it is virtually the only way that people have found to create large, internally pacified societies that then drive down the rate of violent death. The lesson of the last 10,000 years of military history, he argues, is that the way to end war is by learning to manage it, not by trying to wish it out of existence. Morris also devotes a chapter to the 1974-1978
Gombe Chimpanzee War The Gombe Chimpanzee War, also known as the Four-Year War, was a violent conflict between two communities of chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park in the Kigoma region of Tanzania between 1974 and 1978. The two groups were once unified in the ...
in
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
. The German translation of the book, ''Krieg: Wozu er gut ist'', was published by Campus Verlag in October 2013. A Dutch translation was published in 2014 by Spectrum (Houten/Antwerp): ''Verwoesting en vooruitgang''. Five more translations are being prepared.


Awards and honors

*2014 California Book Awards Nonfiction Finalist for ''War! What is it Good For?''


Bibliography

* ''Burial and Ancient Society,'' Cambridge, 1987 * ''Death-Ritual and Social Structure in Classical Antiquity,'' Cambridge 1992 * Editor, ''Classical Greece: Ancient Histories and Modern Archaeologies,'' Cambridge, 1994 * Co-editor, with
Barry B. Powell Barry Bruce Powell (born 1942) is an American classical scholar. He is the Halls-Bascom Professor of Classics Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, author of the widely used textbook ''Classical Myth'' and many other books. Trained at ...
, ''A New Companion to Homer,'' E. J. Brill, 1997 * Co-editor, with
Kurt Raaflaub Kurt Arnold Raaflaub (born 15 February 1941, Buea, Cameroon) is a Swiss historian and Emeritus Professor of Classics and History at Brown University, where he taught Greek and Roman history. He is the brother of conductor Beat Raaflaub. Raaflau ...
, ''Democracy 2500? Questions and Challenges,'' Kendall-Hunt, 1997 * ''Archaeology as Cultural History,'' Blackwell, 2000 * ''The Greeks: History, Culture, and Society,'' with Barry B. Powell; Prentice-Hall, 1st ed. 2005, 2nd ed. 2009 * Co-editor, with Joe Manning, ''The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models,''
Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
, 2005 * Co-editor, with Walter Scheidel and Richard Saller, ''The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World,'' Cambridge, 2007 * Co-editor, with Walter Scheidel, of ''The Dynamics of Ancient Empires,'' Oxford, 2009 * '' Why the West Rules—For Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future'',
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
, 2010;
Profile Books Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes non-fiction subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current events, current affairs, travel and popular science. Profile Books is distribu ...
, 2010 * '' The Measure of Civilisation: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations'',
Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
, 2013;
Profile Books Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes non-fiction subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current events, current affairs, travel and popular science. Profile Books is distribu ...
, 2013 * ''War! What is it Good For? Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots'',
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
, 2014;
Profile Books Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes non-fiction subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current events, current affairs, travel and popular science. Profile Books is distribu ...
, 2014 * ''Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve'' (The
Tanner Lectures The Tanner Lectures on Human Values is a multi-university lecture series in the humanities, founded in 1978, at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, by the American scholar Obert Clark Tanner. In founding the lecture, he defined their purpose as fol ...
, edited and with an introduction by Stephen Macedo and commentaries by Richard Seaford, Jonathan D. Spence, Christine M. Korsgaard, and
Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...
),
Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
, 2015; * ''Geography Is Destiny: Britain and the World: A 10,000-Year History'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022; Profile Books, 2022 ISBN 9780374157272


References


External links


Ian Morris
Stanford University Classics Department.
Classics and History Expert - Ian Morris
Stanford University Humanities Department.
Why the West Rules for Now
Interview with Ian Morris in www.theglobaldispatches.com.
Ian Morris interview on "Conversations With History,"
a
UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
podcast and video series.
' Foreign Policy magazine review
of ''Why the West Rules''.
Increased Affluence Explains the Emergence of Ascetic Wisdoms and Moralizing Religions
an article together with Nicolas Baumard, Alexandre Hyafil and Pascal Boyer {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Ian 1960 births Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Cambridge American archaeologists 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Futurologists Living people Stanford University Department of Classics faculty Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy British archaeologists British historians American male non-fiction writers