Show of the week: Civilization: The West and the Rest With Niall Ferguson

“The big story,” historian Niall Ferguson argues, is that after 500 years of Western domination, “the world is tilting to the East.” In this absorbing two-part documentary, the Harvard professor travels to Beijing, London, Turkey, and Peru to elucidate his theory that the West long benefited from its embrace of “six killer apps”: competition, science, democracy, medicine, consumerism, and a strong work ethic. The history he traces and the future he predicts add up to a fascinating cautionary tale. Tuesdays, May 22 and 29, at 8 p.m., PBS; check local listings

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