Why The West Won—For Now begins with an alternate universe scenario: In the 19th century, Britain has been conquered by China. Queen Victoria is reduced to a powerless figurehead while Qiying rules Britain and Albert is taken as a hostage to the imperial court in Beijing, where he spends the rest of his life completely acclimating to Chinese culture.

In our actual history, a dispute between British merchants selling opium and the Chinese government, which pushed to ban it, led to the Opium Wars that weakened the Chinese government. European governments took advantage of growing instability to encroach on China further. One attack on Chinese territory led to the British army acquiring a Pekinese dog which was presented to Queen Victoria, who named the dog “Looty” (11).

Comparing the reality where Looty was taken to Queen Victoria with the alternate timeline where Albert was taken to Beijing, Morris asks why “did history follow the path” (11) that led to Western instead of Chinese dominion. Morris notes that the answer most people would have is the technological supremacy of the West, but, Morris argues, that only leaves open the question of how the West was able to advance more than the rest of the world in technology.