The focus of Fernand Braudel's great work is the Mediterranean world in the second half of the sixteenth century, but Braudel ranges back in history to the world of Odysseus and forward to our time, moving out from the Mediterranean area to the New World and other destinations of Mediterranean traders. Braudel's scope embraces the natural world and material life, economics, demography, politics, and diplomacy.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"A brilliant translation. . . . Braudel's metahistorical classic [is] one of the few great histories of recent times." -- The Economist
"Because Braudel's Mediterranean can be read on several levels simultaneously, it has an importance and a range that extend far beyond any one historical category." -- J. H. Elliott, New York Review of Books
"Braudel ranges with ease over the centuries, displaying an extraordinary erudition of all periods in all of Western Europe's major languages." -- J. H. Plumb, New York Times Book Review
"Because Braudel's Mediterranean can be read on several levels simultaneously, it has an importance and a range that extend far beyond any one historical category." -- J. H. Elliott, New York Review of Books
"Braudel ranges with ease over the centuries, displaying an extraordinary erudition of all periods in all of Western Europe's major languages." -- J. H. Plumb, New York Times Book Review
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French
Original Language: French
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43 of 46 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
In the 1500s, billions in gold and silver poured into Spanish coffers from the new world; yet, a century later Spain was bankrupt. What happened?
Fernand Braudel has woven together a fascinating tour around the Mediterranean of the 1500s, explaining the rise of the Ottoman Empire, how Egyptians made iced drinks, why Algiers became the capital of piracy, how the banking system created the first transcontinental roads, and much more. This book immerses the reader in a new world full of rich details and suprising connections.
Spain? An extravagant Star-Wars size naval fleet built with timbers imported from Scandinavia; nonexistent accounting practices, the personal greed of Spanish nobility helped along by canny bankers in the Netherlands--the wealth poured out as fast as it had come.
Fernand Braudel has woven together a fascinating tour around the Mediterranean of the 1500s, explaining the rise of the Ottoman Empire, how Egyptians made iced drinks, why Algiers became the capital of piracy, how the banking system created the first transcontinental roads, and much more. This book immerses the reader in a new world full of rich details and suprising connections.
Spain? An extravagant Star-Wars size naval fleet built with timbers imported from Scandinavia; nonexistent accounting practices, the personal greed of Spanish nobility helped along by canny bankers in the Netherlands--the wealth poured out as fast as it had come.
45 of 49 people found the following review helpful
By nto62
VINE™ VOICE
I have been keenly interested in world history for nearly 20 years. I read, on average, 30 non-fiction historical accounts per annum. With rare exception, I have always felt up to the task of both completion and comprehension. Braudel is an entirely different animal. What Braudel has presented in the form of 16th-century Mediterranean history is formidable, innovative, and exhausting.
Braudel's narrative weaves itself through overlays of historical strata that demand as much from the reader as any contemporary written history available. His is not a mere linear schedule of cause and effect, but a finely crafted history of regional parallels which render the methodology as thought provoking as the content.
Fully one-fourth of the book is devoted to economics in such painstaking detail that, while the specialist may revel, the layman may grow foggy, uninterested, and, unfortunately, bored. But, this does not detract from the overall value of Braudel's effort. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World is a singular achievement in written history which offers the reader a vantage point that I have yet to find elsewhere. 5 stars.
Braudel's narrative weaves itself through overlays of historical strata that demand as much from the reader as any contemporary written history available. His is not a mere linear schedule of cause and effect, but a finely crafted history of regional parallels which render the methodology as thought provoking as the content.
Fully one-fourth of the book is devoted to economics in such painstaking detail that, while the specialist may revel, the layman may grow foggy, uninterested, and, unfortunately, bored. But, this does not detract from the overall value of Braudel's effort. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World is a singular achievement in written history which offers the reader a vantage point that I have yet to find elsewhere. 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
This book is a very detailed starting point for fans of both the Renaissance & Capitalism. It was originally published in French in 1949. The book has eleven illustrations & fifty four lists of figures & is 643 pages long.It is divided into two huge parts with several chapters & sub chapters in each.
Exs: Part 1, "The Role Of The Environment."
Chapter1-The Peninsulas: Mountains, Plateaux, & Plains.
Chapter2-The Heart Of The Mediterranean: Seas & Coasts.
Chapter3-Boundaries: The Greater Mediterranean.
Chapter4-The Mediterranean As A Physical Unit: Climate & History.
Chapter5-The Mediterranean As A Human Unit: Communications & Cities.
Part2, "Collective Destinies & General Trends."
Chapter1-Economies: The Measures Of The Century.
Chapter2-Economies: Precious Metals, Money, & Prices.
Chapter3-Economies: Trade & Transport.
Chapter4-Trade & Transport: The Sailing Ships Of The Atlantic.
At its heart this is a socio-economic history of the second half of
the sixteenth century Mediterranean world that we owe so much too.
The authors depth & breadth of knowledge can be overwhelming at times, but never dull. The clever inclusion of the often ignored topics like climate and geographic conditions presuasively explained why prosperous Capitalism grew in some regions while others remained stagnant.
Chapter 5-"The Human Unit" was the most informative. Most facets of history are here for the reader to absorb. This is the type of book we all wished we had in school.
Exs: Part 1, "The Role Of The Environment."
Chapter1-The Peninsulas: Mountains, Plateaux, & Plains.
Chapter2-The Heart Of The Mediterranean: Seas & Coasts.
Chapter3-Boundaries: The Greater Mediterranean.
Chapter4-The Mediterranean As A Physical Unit: Climate & History.
Chapter5-The Mediterranean As A Human Unit: Communications & Cities.
Part2, "Collective Destinies & General Trends."
Chapter1-Economies: The Measures Of The Century.
Chapter2-Economies: Precious Metals, Money, & Prices.
Chapter3-Economies: Trade & Transport.
Chapter4-Trade & Transport: The Sailing Ships Of The Atlantic.
At its heart this is a socio-economic history of the second half of
the sixteenth century Mediterranean world that we owe so much too.
The authors depth & breadth of knowledge can be overwhelming at times, but never dull. The clever inclusion of the often ignored topics like climate and geographic conditions presuasively explained why prosperous Capitalism grew in some regions while others remained stagnant.
Chapter 5-"The Human Unit" was the most informative. Most facets of history are here for the reader to absorb. This is the type of book we all wished we had in school.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
You need to have been an apprentice historian in the mid-sixties to appreciate the impact this book had on Europeanists. I was thirty-one years old in 1967. I had taught history in high school for eight years and picked up a master's in history at NYU, and I was starting my Ph. D. program in history at Yale, concentrating on early modern European history, and within that specialty, on medieval and early modern political theory. (Later, when I taught college, my specialty course was on Machiavelli, More, Erasmus and Guicciardini.)
Braudel had just published the second edition of his masterpiece. The book had been significantly rewritten and was about a third longer than the original edition. But it was available only in French, which I read well but exceedingly slowly. The first edition --but not the second-- had been translated into Spanish, my preferred second language, so I swotted the Spanish first edition for orals. Reading it in a foreign language, it was too much in a limited amount of time to absorb and integrate with what I already knew about the times. I more or less flubbed the Braudel question in my orals. (In contrast, I did a killer job responding to a question about Ernst Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Liturgy.)
Later, teaching a winter term course in college, I assigned the by-then-published English translation of Braudel's second edition to my students, giving myself --at long last-- an opportunity to read it in my native tongue. I was floored! The masterful use of maps and graphs to show hitherto unnoticed trends in history, the wealth of illustrative detail, the scope of his view!... Read more ›
Braudel had just published the second edition of his masterpiece. The book had been significantly rewritten and was about a third longer than the original edition. But it was available only in French, which I read well but exceedingly slowly. The first edition --but not the second-- had been translated into Spanish, my preferred second language, so I swotted the Spanish first edition for orals. Reading it in a foreign language, it was too much in a limited amount of time to absorb and integrate with what I already knew about the times. I more or less flubbed the Braudel question in my orals. (In contrast, I did a killer job responding to a question about Ernst Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Liturgy.)
Later, teaching a winter term course in college, I assigned the by-then-published English translation of Braudel's second edition to my students, giving myself --at long last-- an opportunity to read it in my native tongue. I was floored! The masterful use of maps and graphs to show hitherto unnoticed trends in history, the wealth of illustrative detail, the scope of his view!... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Epic
Overall, the two volumes are completely engrossing, painstakingly researched and absolutely epic in scope. Read more
Published on April 17, 2011 by Just A Girl
4.0 out of 5 stars
Original in its approach, unsurpassed in its comprehensiveness, but...
First published in its complete form in 1949, then extensively revised in 1966 before being translated into English in 1972, Braudel's massive socio-economic history is, I can... Read more
Published on January 3, 2010 by D. Cloyce Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Amazing and Exhausting Opus
Braudel's text on the Mediterranean is considered one of the contemporary classics of historical writing, and I can see why. Read more
Published on August 15, 2003 by William Nicholas III
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 8
books:
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219
books
cite this book:
See all 219 books citing this book
- Grey Wolf, Mustafa Kemal: An Intimate Study of a Dictator (Select Bibliographies Reprint Series) by Harold Courtenay Armstrong on page 20, and page 22
- History of England by G. M. Trevelyan on page 181, and page 221
- The Life of Cellini (Arts & Letters) by Benvenuto Cellini on page 73, and page 527
- Promenades dans Rome by Stendhal on page 36, and page 157
- on page 277
See all 8 books this book cites
- The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History by Peregrine Horden in Front Matter, page 1, and Back Matter
- Edge City: Life on the New Frontier by Joel Garreau in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- The Courtier and the King: Ruy Gómez de Silva, Philip II, and the Court of Spain by James M. Boyden in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century by Geoffrey Parker on page 230, and page 263
- Henry IV and the Towns: The Pursuit of Legitimacy in French Urban Society, 1589-1610 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History) by S. Annette Finley-Croswhite on page 1, and Back Matter
See all 219 books citing this book
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