Customer Reviews

Bronze Age Economics: The Beginnings of Political Economies

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Earle presents historical stories for several peoples who were in Bronze Ages at different periods. For each, he weaves together anthropology, sociology, environmental impact, and economics. For anyone who finds it difficult to imagine how there could have been "economics" prior to the Age of Industrialization, this is a very helpful book.

I used this book when teaching a course on Economic History, precisely because I wanted my students to appreciate what economics means and how it exists in every society, even primative ones. Earle's accounts of Bronze Age Hawaiian chiefdoms or primitive Danish Bronze Age communities, etc. demonstrated this perfectly while making it fun at the same time. (In how many Economics courses will you study about indicators of economic status and feather capes?)

Anyone who thinks that he or she is interested in anthropology or sociology, but nothing so dry as economics, need only pick up Earle's book, to see how much fun economics reading CAN be.

This is a very unique book that satisfies a niche in the field of economics exceedingly well.