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Andre Gunder Frank
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ReORIENT: Global Economy in the Asian Age 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Andre Gunder Frank (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 47 ratings
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Andre Gunder Frank asks us to ReOrient our views away from Eurocentrism—to see the rise of the West as a mere blip in what was, and is again becoming, an Asia-centered world. In a bold challenge to received historiography and social theory he turns on its head the world according to Marx, Weber, and other theorists, including Polanyi, Rostow, Braudel, and Wallerstein. Frank explains the Rise of the West in world economic and demographic terms that relate it in a single historical sweep to the decline of the East around 1800. European states, he says, used the silver extracted from the American colonies to buy entry into an expanding Asian market that already flourished in the global economy. Resorting to import substitution and export promotion in the world market, they became Newly Industrializing Economies and tipped the global economic balance to the West. That is precisely what East Asia is doing today, Frank points out, to recover its traditional dominance. As a result, the "center" of the world economy is once again moving to the "Middle Kingdom" of China. Anyone interested in Asia, in world systems and world economic and social history, in international relations, and in comparative area studies, will have to take into account Frank's exciting reassessment of our global economic past and future.
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  1. ISBN-13
    978-0520211292
  2. Edition
    1st
  3. Publisher
    University of California Press
  4. Publication date
    July 31, 1998
  5. Language
    English
  6. File size
    1708 KB
  7. See all details
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4 out of 5 stars
47 global ratings

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worst book-condition ever.
1 out of 5 stars
worst book-condition ever.
Is it common to sell a book like that? Lots of pages are like that. horrible scribbles!!
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Top reviews from the United States

  • John D. Cofield
    5.0 out of 5 stars How Asia Once Won (And Could Again)
    Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2002
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    Andre Gunder Frank wrote ReOrient to demonstrate that the present Western predominance in the world economy is fairly new. It began when Europe gained control of the New World's natural resources, particularly silver, and used it to "buy a ticket on the Asian train" (Gunder Frank's apt metaphor).
    Gunder Frank also speculates that East Asia's present economic growth and potential will eventually help it regain economic hegemony in the not too distant future.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Scott Snyder
    4.0 out of 5 stars A New Frame in Which to View World History
    Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2001
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    I confess. I was Eurocentric. Despite a degree in International Economics from an east coast school known for its School of Foreign Service, I firmly believed Max Weber that the Protestant work-ethic was the source of western prosperity. I also believed in American exceptionalism. Frank's book cured me of both those false notions.
    A couple points I'd like to add to Frank's thesis explained in other reviews.
    1) I work for one of the major trans-Pacific ocean shipping companies. The company was founded in California in 1848 and sold to the Singapore government in 1997. (Shipping going East)
    2) US-bound shipments are full of manufactured goods. Asia-bound ships are filled with wastepaper or are largely empty. The West continues to produce nothing that Asia really wants. Where in times past, most of the Asian-bound shipments from England and the Netherlands were boats filled with silver and gold, today we "ship silver" to Asia in the form of electronic fund transfers. Given the trade deficit the US alone has with China and the rest of Asia, it seems only a matter of time before the Chinese start buying Manhattan and US assets the way the Japanese did in the 1980s.
    3) Frank's book adds an interesting background to the history of the Roman Empire. After subjugating Europe, Rome moved eastward under Constantine the Great. First, Constantinople provided a more defensible position for the New Rome (indeed where the western capital - Rome -- fell in the 5th century, the eastern capital - Constantinople -- continued until the 15th century, despite being "on the way" as it were for invading Huns and other invading armies). But perhaps more importantly, all the commercial action was centered in the East. Moving the capital eastward took it out of the backwater of Italy and moved it closer to the overland trade routes with the Asia).
    4)That the East was far wealthier than the West can again be seen in microcosmic perspective during the 4th Crusade. Western soldiers had never imagined a city as wealthy as Constantinople. When they saw it they had to have it. The West, especially Venice, did to Constantinople in 1205 as the British did to Bengal in 1857 and the Americans have been doing to the Native Americans since they got here. They took by force, not by superior ethic, religion, tradition, or racial superiority.
    The book itself, despite its "must read status" and historical importance, is very poorly written and highly repetitious. If you read the concluding few pages, you will have the main points of the argument. Read the rest of the book if you want the details. And Frank provides plenty of detail, footnotes, references, etc.
    All in all, this book is important for understanding the world's past as well as the contours of the future. I wonder how long it will take for the pendulum to swing back to Asia. Chinese-US relations are getting interesting, aren't they?
    37 people found this helpful
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  • Ambalavanar Somaskanda
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2015
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    Extremely well written,authentic.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Chung heejeong
    1.0 out of 5 stars worst book-condition ever.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Is it common to sell a book like that? Lots of pages are like that. horrible scribbles!!
    Customer image
    Chung heejeong
    1.0 out of 5 stars worst book-condition ever.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2024
    Is it common to sell a book like that? Lots of pages are like that. horrible scribbles!!
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  • R. Albin
    3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but Flawed
    Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2000
    An interesting and very ambitious book by a distinguished scholar. Frank challenges the views of a number of important thinkers about world history including important contemporary historians such as Braudel and Wallerstein, and seminal 19th century theorists such as Marx and Weber. Briefly, Frank attacks a 'eurocentric' model of world development that sees capitalism emerging in Europe and then enmeshing the whole world in a Europe centered world economy. Instead, he emphasizes the vigor of a well established Afro-Asian capitalist economy that Western Europe was able to participate in only belatedly and only by extracting precious metals from the Western Hemisphere. He shows convincingly that up until the threshold of the Industrial Revolution, Afro-Asian trade remained the greater part of the world economy. These points are an important corrective to the existing model. He goes too far, however, in asserting that the world economy was not created by European activity. This is a simple point of logic. A world economy means literally that, an economic system that encompasses the whole globe. It is only with the European expansion of the early modern period that the Western Hemisphere and Oceania were incorporated into the world economy. While the Afro-Asian trade networks would remain quantitatively substantially larger than trade involving Europe, the European additions to the world economy introduce a qualitative difference in world trade networks. Nor is it likely that China, Mughal India, or any other Afro-Asian economic power would have discovered the Western Hemisphere. Another flaw in this book is the somewhat rambling style. At times this can be a real obstacle to following Frank's arguments. There are 2 chapters on economic cycles that are poorly organized and at times seem contradictory. Frank's use of what appears to be a rather nebulous literature on cycles is unclear and he resorts at times to the poorly defined idea of Kondratieff waves as an explanatory force. The book finishes with a sketchy attempt to account for the Industrial Revolution. For those interested in this important topic, I recommend Kenneth Pomeranz's The Great Divergence, which covers some of the same ground in a more logical and systematic manner.
    52 people found this helpful
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  • Amy BD
    4.0 out of 5 stars Dry like the desert
    Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2018
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    Dry like the desert, but full of information. Had to read this for a history class, but it is interesting to have read.
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  • Alfonso QS
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2015
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    very goog information
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Eduardo Magrone
    5.0 out of 5 stars Livro em bom estado de conservação
    Reviewed in Brazil on June 19, 2023
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    O tempo transcorrido entre o pedido e a chegada do produto surpreendeu-me em virtude de se tratar de uma compra internacional. O livro encontra-se em bom estado de conservação e será utilizado para leitura profissional.
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  • patrick lemar
    1.0 out of 5 stars Hasty analysis, vague conclusions
    Reviewed in India on May 13, 2019
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    Andre Gunder Frank seems in some hurry to prove so many things. What's the rush? At least be more clear about what you don't agree with. Just a listing of milliard facts isn't gonna show anything my friend.
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  • Stephen Deunk
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on June 24, 2015
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    Met my expectations.
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