威廉‧麥剋尼爾（William H. McNeill）

芝加哥大學歷史學榮譽教授，史學著作量甚豐，超過三十冊。包括:《西方文明史》(History of Western Civilization)、《人類社群史》(A History of the Human Community)、《迴教世界》(The Islamic World)《古典中國》(Classical China)、《文明的起源》(Origins of Civilization)、《瘟疫與人》(Plagues and People)等，《西方的興起》於一九六四年榮獲美國國傢圖書館獎。

In this magisterial history, National Book Award winner William H. McNeill chronicles the interactions and disputes between Latin Christians and the Orthodox communities of eastern Europe during the period of 1081 to 1797. Concentrating on Venice as the hinge of European history in the late medieval and early modern period, McNeill explores the technological, economic, and political bases of Venetian power and wealth, and the city's unique status at the frontier between the papal and Orthodox Christian worlds. He pays particular attention to Venetian influence upon southeastern Europe, and from such an angle of vision, the familiar pattern of European history changes shape.