Rodney Stark is the award-winning author of How the West Won, The Victory of Reason, The Rise of Christianity, God’s Battalions, and many other books. He serves as Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University, USA where he is co-director of the Institute for Studies of Religion. Stark is past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. Before earning his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, he was a staff writer for several major publications. Stark’s books have been translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, and Turkish. He lives in Texas.
Praise for How the West Won "Fortunately, a few unapologetic
defenders of Western civilization can still be found. In How the
West Won, Rodney Stark details how and why the vital aspects of
modernity--defined here as a combination of sensible economic
arrangements, political freedoms and scientific
knowledge--developed in the West rather than elsewhere. In the
process he adds considerably to the content of the old Western Civ
courses, which would often discreetly ignore the contribution of
Christianity and neglect practical matters such as advances in
technology and banking." --Wall Street Journal "Stark's lively and
absorbing new work beheads the academy's dictatorship of relativism
and enthrones in its place concrete and fact-based understanding in
order here to give Western civilization the credit it richly
deserves. . . . Along the way he upsets one politically correct
apple cart after another. . . . Stark's book should have as wide an
audience as possible." --Catholic World Report "Exposes gaping
holes in the prevailing narrative . . . Stark sets out to critique,
and, in some instances, demolish several widespread mythologies
about the West's development. . . . In making these points, Stark
is happy to engage in the deeply politically incorrect exercise of
comparing developments in the West to that of other civilizations."
--Crisis "What sets How the West Won apart from similar histories,
and what makes it a sheer delight to read, is Stark's wit, his
elegant writing and, most especially, his reinterpretation of
various historical events. . . . Nearly every chapter of How the
West Won breaks some widely held opinion. . . . If you are looking
for lively, erudite history, you'll find How the West Won a
splendid companion." --Smoky Mountain News
Praise for Rodney Stark "Stark has a vigorous prose style and a
gift for clear explanation. The pace is swift, and the narrative
thrilling." --New York Times "Fun to read, full of anecdote and
incident . . . Mr. Stark is especially adept at challenging rec
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