Ebook: Civilisations: First Contact / The Cult of Progress

Kenneth Clark's 1969 BBC series Civilisation (note the singular) is perhaps the most celebrated documentary series ever made, except that it was entirely of its time: patrician to the exclusion of women and western to the exclusion of all other cultures. Spring 2018 sees an ambitious 10-part BBC re-make, presented by Britain's foremost historians, embracing global civilisations and exploring different themes in the universal histories of art and culture.;First Contact -- Victorian Disbelief -- A Manner Nation -- Invaders and Looting -- Justifying Conquest -- Keeping an Eye on Culture -- Embracing the New -- Acts of Empire -- Cult of Progress -- The Lure of the Pharaohs -- Revolution in the Midlands -- The City and the Slum -- The American Wilderness -- The Course of Empire -- The Theft of Identity -- Portraits for Posterity -- The Advent of the Camera -- An Artistic Response to Progress -- An Exotic Escape -- Transformations -- The Plunge of Europe.