Introduction

In the fourth and final of the series on civilizations, the Burning Archive contrasts the doom of Oswald Spengler's 1918 classic, The Decline of the West to the over-confident American optimism of the 1991 game, Civilization. What is the story of the Rise of the West? Do civilizations have a life cycle, from cradle to grave? Is the West locked in a clash of civilizations with the Rest? Should we replace the story of the West with the story of Tamerlane's shadow? They are the questions for this episode of The Burning Archive.