Customer Reviews

Mining in World History (Reaktion Books - Globalities)

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This is one of the best books I have ever read. It should be made into a documentary.

The book is more than about who discovered gold or some other mineral here or there but about the evolution of mining and refining techniques, the evolution of finance and banking and the evolution of the industries and empires and people that use the metals and how all the players have changed each other as they evolved. It's about the larger than life personalities, the historically neglected, the cheated, the lucky and unlucky. The book is so broad in its sweep through history yet so subtle and acute and personal. The countries that are or have been major players on the world stage are duly documented and on occasion countries not recognized historically as major players in mining have a bright flash of light cast upon them by a single sentence or paragraph describing almost world domination for decades in the production of particular metals or mining of certain ores.

You come away from this book feeling you can understand where we came from and what drives our society and has driven our society for hundreds of years. Here in Australia a financial journalist recently said that the fortunes of the Australian share market is defined by our biggest bank and our biggest mining company. I can now see why. These two industries, mining and finance, underpin all industrial societies of all political persuasions around the globe, and have a vast impact on societies not dependent on manufactured goods when minerals are discovered on their soil.

The book is not judgemental or political in any way and is not an advertisement for mining, doesn't gloss over, doesn't exaggerate, and doesn't bore with dry detail. I found the book entertaining and extremely well written and researched... not that I knew anything much about mining in world history before reading this book. There are some maps provided in the book but a good atlas or globe may come in handy to locate some of the locations mentioned that aren't mapped as I find seeing on a map where something is or something happened makes it somewhat more fulfilling. The only trouble is having to interrupt you reading to look up the location!

Not all mining has been covered such as the scarcer or obscure metals or minerals or the more recent but vast impact of the oil industry... considering oil reserves were the prizes at stake in two world wars... but I think the oversight of the oil industry was probably deliberate as oil in world history would be another book in itself... you get the feeling the author would be able to write another 20 or 30 volumes... I'd certainly have a go at reading them if he wrote them!