Economics and the Dreamtime: A Hypothetical History [Paperback]

Noel George Butlin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521438209 | ISBN-13: 978-0521438209 | Publication Date: February 24, 1994

The economic significance of Aboriginal culture for the British colonizers of Australia is rarely addressed and, until now, has not been closely studied by an economic historian. This imaginative book presents a concept of a pre-European Aboriginal economy. It shows how an Aboriginal presence over millennia shaped the local environment and responded to it, so that the Aboriginal economy developed into an ordered system of decision-making able to satisfy the wants of the people. The book analyzes the processes which allowed economic control of a country to pass, after more than 60,000 years in Aboriginal hands, into European hands within 60 years of settlement. Professor Butlin's presentation of the contrast between one of the world's most ancient economies and one of its youngest is both illuminating and exciting.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As a major contribution to world systems theory, this study should be held by every anthropological and economic research library." Choice

Book Description

This imaginative study depicts the millennia old pre-European Aboriginal economy and then analyzes the processes which allowed economic control of a country to pass, after more than 60,000 years, into European hands within 60 years of settlement.

Product Details

• Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (February 24, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521438209
• ISBN-13: 978-0521438209
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,691,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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