Customer Reviews

The World That Trade Created: Society, Culture, and the World Economy, 1400-The Present (Sources and Studies in World History)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Several years ago, a former student called on his history professors to write a short entertaining article in a magazine he had started for businessmen. This article became a regular feature in the magazine, and now these short stories - these vignettes - have been organized thematically into a book.

*The World That Trade Created* proves that economic history need not be boring or dry. While the stories introduce readers to people, places, times, and events that put "globalization" into historical perspective, this is definitely not a textbook. Perhaps the highest compliment that I can offer is that it is more suited to the bedside table than the classroom.

Pomeranz and Topik have assembled an entertaining and informative collage of historical snapshots centered more around oceans than continents, and (despite the 1400-Present subtitle) more upon the premodern and early modern trade than modern international trade. For the most part, this is a world in which geography and meteorology impose formidable, but not insuperable barriers to trans-hemispheric encounter and exchange, a world where drugs (coffee, sugar, chocolate, opium) "are the foundation of the world economy, not its aberration," a world which is not Eurocentric, but polycentric and multi-cultural.

There is something for everyone in this book - businessmen, travelers, history buffs, economists, geographers, students, and educators. The only thing missing are maps which, given the exotic locales that are often introduced, would be extremely helpful.

This is a very entertaining overview of the development of world trade and world economy. The short essays (3 to 4 pages each) each cover a different topic and are far too short to become boring. If anything some of the chapters are too short.

The authors take an approach which is refereshingly not euro-centric, with many chapters covering the Far East and South America. In fact the authors' cynicism and disapproval of the hypocracy of European colonial expansion is a recurring theme throughout the book.

My favorite essay in the book discusses the rise and fall of Potosi, now a small dusty town in Bolivia but formerly one of the largest and richest cities in the world. Potosi's wealth came from the numerous silver mines dug into Cerro Rico, a mountain overlooking the city. Once the silver was gone, so were the good times. Having visited Potosi in 1993, I was delighted to read about the former glory and world renown of what is now, essentially little more than a vilage.

The book covers such varied topics as the connection between tea and the drug trade; the adoption of international timezones; piracy; the origin of coffee; and the impact of slave trade on the industrial revolution.

Overall the book is a great read interspresed with many amusing anecdotes that make history come alive. If you are interested in history, I definitely recommend this book.

The World That Trade Created: Society, Culture, and the World Economy 1400 to the Present is similar to recent cultural histories of seemingly unimportant topics like germs and the senses. There is a treasure trove of tiny facts that amaze, but do amount to an argument. The authors in very concise, cross-referenced articles set out on an ambitious project. They reject western triumphal without resorting to anti-imperialism, to reconstruct the world economy as it was before western science turned history to science.

The authors humorously undermine the teleological notion of an impersonal, dismal science of economics by producing counter-intuitive examples of irrational, political, and cultural policies. Little questions assume global importance. Any belief in market forces is reduced to tatters under the weight of facts, like railroad track gauges, coffee beans, and chocolate. This agenda gives the individual subjects, each the subject of it's own study in other places, coherence.

I sometimes found the organization of information annoying, however. Although well annotated and cross-referenced, a more chronological or geographical standard would be preferable. Although zooming from one end of the globe to another through centuries does achieve an effective de-westernizing quality, it seems repetitive and blurs the main argument. However, the reader is left with the strong impression of a very multi-faceted, multivalent world slowly reduced to western sterility.

However, this book is entertaining just for the individual sections, and the reader will never look at coffee or tea the same way again. So many myths are exploded in this book; its title should be more explosive too. The authors do a very good job of making economics light.

This was my first year teaching AP World History so I had to rely on the books chosen by the previous/outgoing teacher. I wasn't familiar with this book and had to read it AFTER the class read it since they read it over the summer and BEFORE I was hired.

The book is excellent for AP World History for a number of reasons:

1- It thesis ties directly into one of the main themes of the AP World History course.

2- It is divided up into sections dealing with different aspects of world trade, making the book highly readable for 10th graders.

3- The topics are interesting to the kids. They especially liked reading about Drugs: Chocolate, Tea, and Coffee.

I wanted to use Diamond's book this year, but fell in love with this book. Maybe I'll try both. I can hear the groans and gnashing of teeth now!

I wanted to like this book. As you begin reading, Pomeranz and Topik seem to have good intentions, and indeed present interesting information throughout, but nevertheless their style is confusing and haphazard. Though they purport to organize by topic and chronologically, they barely manage the first and completely fail at the second. Of course, all of history and particularly economics overlaps to significant degrees, but this book only made a denser web of this inter-relatedness. The authors jump from topic to topic, and (very annoyingly) repeat concepts which they have already discussed once, twice, even three times in earlier sections. Partly illustrating the fact that no chronological order is followed is the note in the introduction that says the second section discusses "the role of violence in capital accumulation and market formation," and "Chapter 5 examines the role of transportation improvements in linking up distant markets and intensifying trade" (xiv). However, the table of contents lists Chapter 2 as the one which discusses transportation, while Chapter 5 talks about violence. If even the authors have difficulties organising their topics, there is little hope that the reader will be able to follow their organisation. Though some of their information was interesting and relevant to world history, it was presented in such a disorienting fashion that little could be gained from the reading. Additionally, I felt as though the authors made significant exaggerations and generalisations on some topics, particularly related to the economics of drugs, the morals of pirates, and the views of foods like potatoes.

I have to say I was just not impressed with this book. While it has the advantage of hitting all of the well-known accent notes starting from the early "imperial" and mercantile ages, the lack of sourcing was problematic, not to mention far too many factoids and toss off lines marring the chronology. In a strange way, I thought it was an attempt to merge the best of world history with the worst of Thomas Friedman.

For a student, the standard chronology is useful, but to wade through the asides requires, I think, some general foreknowledge of the major themes not everyone will possess although the chosen, illustrative vignettes are generally interesting. For the more academically minded, it's an often unsubstantiated and rather dull read I am not sure adds much to the continuing discussion of the the role of trade and commerce in shaping the modern world with a couple of exceptions, especially the inclusion of "narco-history" into the modern era, an uncomfortable subject they handle well and which begs for more scholarly analysis.

Still, it is not an incompetent work by any stretch of the imagination, and not without some utility if you stick to the "nuts and bolts."

Recommended with some reservations.

Packed full of interesting tidbits, historical oddities, and a few terrible puns, this book is a blast to anyone even slightly interested in history. It covers almost every part of the world, and takes care to show the many differences between the trading cultures and people without making complete monsters or selfless heroes out of any of them. An extremely evenhanded book with a firm grasp of the facts and a fast, easily readable writing style, I can easily recommend this book to almost anyone.

This book covers the history of trade in the New World. It begins by discussing the Aztec Indians. The Aztecs traded rubber, chocolate, Jaguarian Pelts and other fine products.
The author also discusses the beginnings of global trade in
Asia during the 1400s and beyond. This book provides an
excellent supplement to the theoretical and practical
history of Economics. It complements works; such as,
"The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith and the writings of
David Ricardo, Malthus and others.

Products: Sugar, coffee, tea, textiles, etc. Areas: Asia, the Americas, Europe, Africa, etc. Economic issues: contracts, finance, property rights, information, technology. I am familiar with a number of the areas Pomeranz and Topik describe and greatly appreciate their eclectic, realistic, universal viewpoint. Highly recommend.

For my AP world history class, I was required to read a non-fiction book over the summer. I definatey don't regret choosing The World that Trade Created. I learned a lot and I wasn't bored reading it, which is definately a good thing.

The World that Trade Created covers the effects of trade on wars, the food and drink that areas preferred, explorers, and even why the keyboard is layed out in the illogical order that it is. It really is quite interesting compared to most non-fiction books I've read and I would difinately recommend it.