Gracchus

Roll over, Ed Gibbon

You've got to hand it to the columnists of the New York Times. These folks are not lacking in confidence. There is no subject they don't feel would benefit from their magisterial attention, and there is no doubt in their minds that we're all eager to see what pearls will emerge from the clam-like innards of their laptops. We have William Safire (of all people!) on language; some guy named Randy Cohen who knows more about ethics than the average schmo; and now Nicholas Kristof shoving Gibbon off his perch.

In today's Times Kristof treats us to a Big Picture view of human history, as seen from the Olympian heights of West 44th Street. The Times has given Kristof's piece the ovation of a "multi-media" presentation on their site, and the International Herald Tribune obligingly reprinted it, for those of us who don't need to hear the oracle viva-voce.

My favorite bit:

"My vote for most important city in the world in the period leading up to 2000 B.C. would be Ur, Iraq. In 1500 B.C., perhaps Thebes, Egypt. There was no dominant player in 1000 B.C., though one could make a case for Sidon, Lebanon. In 500 B.C., it would be Persepolis, Persia; in the year 1, Rome; around A.D. 500, maybe Changan, China; in 1000, Kaifeng, China; in 1500, probably Florence, Italy; in 2000, New York; and in 2500, probably none of the above."

It's hard to know where to start with something as splendid as this. Personally, I'm always tickled when people feel they need to tell us that Florence is in Italy. I'm glad Kristof assumed we would know, at least, where New York is.

Then of course there's the wonderful anachronism of putting Ur in some place called Iraq. Was it ruled by a dictator then, too? But perhaps anachronism is a pedantic reproach to hurl at such a sweeping, godlike panorama. De minimis non curant Nicks.

Speaking of anachronism, though, here's the moral our sage draws from his Gray Line tour of imperial grandeurs:

"One lesson is the importance of sustaining a technological edge and sound economic policies. Ancient China flourished partly because of pro-growth, pro-trade policies and technological innovations.... Thinking of Kaifeng should stimulate Americans to struggle to improve their high-tech edge, educational strengths and pro-growth policies."

"Pro-growth?" Citizen Of The World Kristof has got a toolbox of concepts that apply anywhere, anytime -- a little like the way the US dollar is international currency.

Does anyone else feel that Kristof's little fugue of lessons from the past is a bit of a letdown after the thunderous prelude? Indeed, if my respect for the mighty intellects of the Op-Ed page were less profound, I might be tempted to suggest that he had toppled from Gibbonian sublimity into... Rotarian bathos.

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Posted by gracchus at May 23, 2005 02:19 PM | TrackBack