Description
Book SynopsisA panoramic reinterpretation of global history, this title traces the emergence and development of the modern world from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.
Trade Review"A tour de force that brings together and makes sense of a wealth of diverse historical studies which often seem to contradict each other...an extremely formidable achievement." * New York Times Book Review *
"A heroic and impressive achievement. . . . an exhilarating and satisfying book. . . . it explains more convincingly and sympathetically than anything I have read hitherto the actual process of economic and social development on a European-world scale." * American Journal of Sociology *
"A remarkable book. The author has a theory and uses it to explain the structure and course of public events in Europe and its trans-oceanic annexes in the sixteenth century. The effect is dazzling and dizzying."
* Societas *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Quotation Credits
Prologue to the 2011 Edition
Introduction: On the study of social change
1. Medieval prelude
2. The new European division of labor: c. 1450–1640
3. The absolute monarchy and statism
4. From Seville to Amsterdam: the failure of empire
5. The strong core-states: class-formation and international
commerce
6. The European world-economy: periphery versus external arena
7. Theoretical reprise
Bibliography
Index
