History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

HITLER'S MIRACLE WEAPONS: The Secret history of the Rockets and Flying Crafts of the Third Reich Volume 2 - From the V-1 to the A-9; Unconventional short- ... weapons (Hitler's Miracle Weapons)

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Why our space program had German scientists
A Lot of Previously Unknown Material
Hold On!!

HITLER'S MIRACLE WEAPONS: The Secret history of the Rockets and Flying Crafts of the Third Reich Volume 2 - From the V-1 to the A-9; Unconventional short- ... weapons (Hitler's Miracle Weapons)
Friedrich Georg
Manufacturer: Helion and Company Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1874622620

Book Description

Following on from the success of volume 1, Friedrich Georg's second book in the series covers unconventional short- and medium-range weapons. In particular, this volume includes a wealth of information about the V-rocket programme, not just the more familiar V-1 and V-2, but special variants of these two rockets as well as later experimental craft and weaponry. Following a fascinating examination of pre-war efforts to build flying bombs, the author examines the V-1 and V-2 projects in great detail. Particular attention is paid to special variants that have previously received little coverage. These include the V-2 A-4 'America Rocket', and V-2s designed to carry nuclear and radiological warheads. The capability of the Germans to deploy such weapons is also discussed. A large number of weird and wonderful projects that never left the drawing board are examined, including the FR-35, V-6, V-101, Waterfall and Naval EMW A-7 rockets. The fascinating final section examines German plans to utilise such rocketry against London and Paris in 1945, as well as recounting the activities of V-weapons on other fronts, including Italy, Yugoslavia and the Eastern Front. The text is supported by b/w photographs and 16 superb pages of colour artwork, including profiles, computer-generated images of designs that never flew, and pictures of the author's own models.

Customer Reviews:

Why our space program had German scientists.......2007-01-26

Bob Hope is famously quoted as saying after we landed on the moon, "I wanted to call NASA to consgratulate them, but I don't speak German."

As with all the best humour, it is the strong link to reality that makes it all the more amusing.

How is it that the US was able to beat the Soviets to the moon? How is it that the US was able to develop a successful multi-stage launch vehicle AFTER being a distant second to the Soviets from 1957 to 1963.

Friedrich Georg claims that it is due in part to the previously unknown work done in Nazi Germany during World War Two. He addresses this matter in HITLER'S MIRACLE WEAPONS: The Secret history of the Rockets and Flying Crafts of the Third Reich Volume 2 - From the V-1 to the A-9. As is obvious by the title, author Georg is writing a multi-volume volume series on german high-level weapons R&D programs. This volume addresses the development tactical and strategic delivery systems for the NBC weapons discussed in his first volume: HITLER'S MIRACLE WEAPONS: Secret Nuclear Weapons of the Third Reich and their Carrier Systems volume 1 - Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine.

Using data he claims was unaccessible until after 1990 because it was sequestered in the German Democratic Republic, Georg describes how the German missle programs beginning with the well-known V1 and V2, but then goes own to present information on additional, far more sophiscated vehciles that would have the capability of hiting targets in the US.

He also provides previously unknown information about plans to install V1 and V2 sites in Ilaty as well as the last ditch efforts by the Germans to launch nuclear-tipped missiles at England.

Not limited to text, this book also includes excellent scale drawings and models of the various weapons and delivery systems, as well as what few photographs have survived.

Friedrich Georg should be commended for his diligent attention to detail in relating this fascinating trove of information.

A Lot of Previously Unknown Material.......2005-07-26

This book asks an interesting question: After the V-1 Buzz Bombs and the V-2 rockets were in production and use, what were the scientists and engineers working on next.

Then it attempts to answer that same question. And the answer is a whole range of new and different weapons. Some of these were big and designed for attacking the United States after being launched from Germany. Some were small guided weapons to be launched from aircraft against high priority targets.

There are several brief discussions on the German nuclear weapons programs. This includes missile designs with proposed nuclear warheads. I am skeptical of the authors interpretation of these designs. What little information I've seen on the German program says that they made very little progress, even that the basic fundamental theories that Werner Heisenberg were so badly flawed that even if they had been able to gether the components it is likely that they would have blown themselves up rather than actually produced a bomb.

The first bombs were big - 5000-7000 pounds, Heisenberg's design was much bigger than that. Note that just because I'm skeptical doesn't mean that the German scientists weren't working on the problem.

This book covers development areas that have been generally ignored in the press. I presume that it is in part based on information from what was East Germany that wasn't available until recently.

The book appears to have been put together based on relatively little hard information. But after that many years, it isn't surprising that projects which never came to pass would be hard to find out about at all.

Hold On!!.......2005-07-07

Since the Berlin Wall fell a whole new generation of investigator has arisen in Germany. Friedrich Georg is one of these and he has uncovered a whole new world of facts regarding secret German weapons and technology. But this is not the kind of book you read in one sitting. It takes time for the mind to get around what Mr. Georg has uncovered. You can curl up in you favorite chair for this book but not with a glass of wine. Skip the wine, you will need a drink afterward.

Mr. Georg uncovers new weapons and new delivery systems. How about "Nipolit", "N-stoff", radiological warheads, and atomic cannon, the A4-b and A-9A? How about the V-3 and the V-4? Were some of these actually launched? What is the mysterious long distance rocket called the V-101? There is much more. Nor is this science fiction, Mr. Georg's work actually comes with sources so that those interested can verify what is being disclosed.

Right now a storm is raging in Germany over the findings of Mr. Georg and others among academicians. This book will place you in eye of this storm while lifting the veil of secrecy off what has been hidden for the last sixty years.

Anyone interested in technology, weaponry, or the hidden history of these topics in Germany will find this book fascinating. I recommend this book without reservation.

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Mixing Freud and Religion
Can we put negative signs in front of the stars?
Not worth it

The Cult of the Virgin Mary
Michael P. Carroll
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Social Psychology & Interactions | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0691028672

Book Description

Tracing devotion to Mary to psychological and historical processes that began in the fifth century, Carroll answers questions about why Mary is both "Virgin" and "Mother" simultaneously, why Marian apparitions have been reported over the centuries, and more. 12 tables.

Customer Reviews:

Mixing Freud and Religion.......2000-12-04

This book will be a hard read for the Catholic Marian faithful, and I wouldn't be surprised if it gets Mr. Carroll on quite a few lists of books to avoid. However, I would like to speak in his defense. First of all this is a book written by a social scientist for social science. It is full of terms that are well understood in the disciplines but that are negatively loaded (One might even say explosive) when read from the standpoint of Catholic Devotional literature. For instance Mr. Carroll describes St. Bernadette Soubirous' Marian aparition, as a halucination. Within the context of his analysis, this is an appropriate psychological term, as nobody else could see the aparition. However to the religious this term invalidates the experience, it makes it unreal.This was clearly not the intention of Mr. Carroll. His research is well documented and his theories well supported. His analysis and arguments are complete. They are thoroughly presented, almost to the point of redundancy. And the fact of the matter is that it works. When we are through with the book we have a deeper understanding of the forces that shape Catholic worship and Marian devotion. I like this book. I have passed it along to friends and family and it has stimulated hours of discussion, debate and even red-faced argument. This book should be read by serious Marian scholars.

Can we put negative signs in front of the stars?.......2000-04-12

This book was really really amusing... if you like reading psychobabble. If we could put negative signs in front of the stars, this baby would have -5 stars.

Not worth it.......1999-09-27

This book attempts to analyze Catholic Marian devotion using Freudian psychology, and many of its strange conclusions arise from this approach. For instance, the author argues that Mary appeals to Catholic men because they have an "oedipal" need for a mother, while she appears to Catholic women because she fulfills their (alleged) "subconscious desire" to have a child by their fathers (since Catholics believe that Mary bore the Son of God the Father). While his conclusion about men may have some validity (we all need a spiritual Mother) his conclusion about women is absurd (Freud was never right about women anyway). I am a Catholic mother, and I have spoken to many Catholic mothers like myself, and the reason why we love Mary - besides the fact that she is our Mother in heaven - is because we can relate to her as a mother and feel that she knows what we are going through, since she too had a family. This guy just doesn't have a clue!

His analysis of Marian apparitions is similarly awful; the author simply ignores any historical details of the apparitions which do not fit his pat theories. The treatment of Guadalupe is perhaps the worst; he claims that the apparitions to Juan Diego are a myth, and that they were never recorded until long after the event! The fact is, there *are* contemporaneous documents which mention the apparition; a little research would have confirmed that. And Juan Diego *is* a historical personage; in fact he was recently beatified by the Catholic Church. The pope does not beatify mythological characters!

Book Description

Saints' cults, with their focus on miraculous healings and pilgrimages, were not only a distinctive feature of Christian religion in fifth-and sixth-century Gaul but also a vital force in political and social life. Here Raymond Van Dam uses accounts of miracles performed by SS. Martin, Julian, and Hilary to provide a vivid and comprehensive depiction of some of the most influential saints' cults. Viewed within the context of ongoing tensions between paganism and Christianity and between Frankish kings and bishops, these cults tell much about the struggle for authority, the forming of communities, and the concept of sin and redemption in late Roman Gaul.

Van Dam begins by describing the origins of the three cults, and discusses the career of Bishop Gregory of Tours, who benefited from the support of various patron saints and in turn promoted their cults. He then treats the political and religious dimensions of healing miracles--including their relation to Catholic theology and their use by bishops to challenge royal authority--and of pilgrimages to saints' shrines. The miracle stories, collected mainly by Gregory of Tours, appear in their first complete English translations.

The Art of Healing: Painting for the Sick and the Sinner in a Medieval Town

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The Art of Healing: Painting for the Sick and the Sinner in a Medieval Town
Marcia A. Kupfer
Manufacturer: Pennsylvania State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0271023031

Book Description

"This work represents a new benchmark in contextualizing a major Romanesque monument within the complex fabric of society that created and transformed it according to changing needs over time. The author is to be commended for being simultaneously attentive to the visual and experiential aspects of the monument, on the one hand, and the nuts and bolts of archaeology and textual documents, on the other. What is more, she presents a bold new interpretative framework for the relatively neglected field of Romanesque mural painting." —Thomas E. A. Dale, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Many historians of medieval art now look beyond soaring cathedrals to study the relationship of architecture and image-making to life in medieval society. In The Art of Healing, Marcia Kupfer explores the interplay between church decoration and ritual practice in caring for the sick. Her inquiry bridges cultural anthropology and the social history of medicine even as it also expands our understanding of how clergy employed mural painting to cure body and soul.

Looking closely at paintings from ca. 1200 in the church of Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, a castle town in Central France, Kupfer traces their links to burial practices, the veneration of saints, and the care of the sick in nearby hospitals. Through careful analysis of the surrounding agrarian landscape, dotted with cults targeting specific afflictions, especially ergotism (then known as St. Silvan's fire), Kupfer sheds new light on the role of wall painting in an ecclesiastical economy of healing and redemption. Sickness and death, she argues, hold the key to understanding the dynamics of Christian community in the Middle Ages.

Product Description

This book tells the story of the Sunchild. Her soul passes undiscovered through the world and brings blessings and consolation wherever her small feet touch the earth. She gathers the tears and sorrow of the world and helps to bring the light down to earth. The authors story is a masterpiece, and no other artist is better suited to illustrate this tender story than Sulamith Wülfing. A wonderful gift book.

Customer Reviews:

Touched my soul........2002-02-07

What a BEAUTIFUL book! I'm an middle aged woman and I fell in love with this book! The story tugs at your heart and the illustrations are remarkable! I've never even heard of this story, written by Queen Marie of Romania, but I am SO glad that I found it! Enjoy, and MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BOX OF TISSUES NEAR BY!

The Pope and the Witch/the First Miracle of the Infant Jesus (Modern Playwrights)

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A Genius, a Clown
This Book is Crap, Buy Something Else

The Pope and the Witch/the First Miracle of the Infant Jesus (Modern Playwrights)
Dario Fo
Manufacturer: Oberon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Continental European | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Customer Reviews:

A Genius, a Clown.......2001-03-29

This is a work of scathing satire and brilliant wit, it's no wonder that Fo won the Nobel Prize!!! A must read for anyone who loves freedom!

This Book is Crap, Buy Something Else.......2000-09-06

What a waste of valuable trees to produce this garbage. Environmentalists should be outraged.

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The Miracle Years

Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691058202

Book Description

Stereotypical descriptions showcase West Germany as an "economic miracle" or cast it in the narrow terms of Cold War politics. Such depictions neglect how material hardship preceded success and how a fascist past and communist sibling complicated the country's image as a bastion of democracy. Even more disappointing, they brush over a rich and variegated cultural history. That history is told here by leading scholars of German history, literature, and film in what is destined to become the volume on postwar West German culture and society.

In it, we read about the lives of real people--from German children fathered by black Occupation soldiers to communist activists, from surviving Jews to Turkish "guest" workers, from young hoodlums to middle-class mothers. We learn how they experienced and represented the institutions and social forces that shaped their lives and defined the wider culture. We see how two generations of West Germans came to terms not only with war guilt, division from East Germany, and the Angst of nuclear threat, but also with changing gender relations, the Americanization of popular culture, and the rise of conspicuous consumption. Individually, these essays peer into fascinating, overlooked corners of German life. Together, they tell what it really meant to live in West Germany in the 1950s and 1960s.

In addition to the editor, the contributors are Volker R. Berghahn, Frank Biess, Heide Fehrenbach, Michael Geyer, Elizabeth Heineman, Ulrich Herbert, Maria Höhn, Karin Hunn, Kaspar Maase, Richard McCormick, Robert G. Moeller, Lutz Niethammer, Uta G. Poiger, Diethelm Prowe, Frank Stern, Arnold Sywottek, Frank Trommler, Eric D. Weitz, Juliane Wetzel, and Dorothee Wierling.

Miracles of Our Lady (Studies in Romance Languages)

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Miracles of Our Lady (Studies in Romance Languages)
Gonzalo De Berceo , and Annette Grant Cash
Manufacturer: University Press of Kentucky
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Book of Good Love: Of the Archpriest of Hita, Juan Ruiz

ASIN: 0813120195

The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia

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Explaining the past illuminates the present
Only if you HAVE to read it....
Interesting but not great

The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia
Eric Jones
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 052152783X

Book Description

Why did modern states and economies develop first in the peripheral and late-coming culture of Europe? This historical puzzle looms behind every study of industrialization and economic development. In his analytical and comparative work Eric Jones sees the economic condition forming where natural environments and political systems meet: Europe's economic rise is explained as a favored interaction between them, contrasting with the frustrating pattern of their interplay in the Ottoman empire, India and China. A new preface and afterword have been added for the third edition. Previous Edition Hb (1987): 0-521-33449-7 Previous Edition Pb (1987): 0-521-33670-8

Customer Reviews:

Explaining the past illuminates the present.......2003-10-27

The European Miracle is a book I have been meaning to read for years. Having finally done so, I found it a pleasure to read, a work which explains much of the past in ways which illuminate the present.

If you are looking for abstract theorising, this is not the book. If you are looking for a book of excellent scholarship, judicious judgement and clear prose which considers the breadth of causal factors, this is definitely your book.

Jared Diamond in his splendid Guns, Germs, Steel asked the questions 'why civilisation?' and 'why Eurasia?'. This asks a later question, 'why Europe?'

I did find the way Jones notes the striking institutional similarities between Japan and Europe but then moves on a bit disappointing. But the great thing about this book is you can fill in the blanks for yourself.

Jones' key analytical point -- that marginal differences, if they persist over centuries, can have huge long term consequences -- is very powerful and conveyed powerfully.

I particularly appreciated the striking delineation of how different the state as it evolved in Europe, and the European experience of the state, was from that of Asia. Once you see that, much subsequent history makes a great deal of sense.

His discussion of the European state system is illuminating, and encompasses (but is not specifically concerned with) local differences. One can see much more powerfully some of the effects of globalisation Friedman pointed to in the Lexus and the Olive Tree.

There is a great deal more in this book. Read it, to understand the past that makes the present much more explicable.

Only if you HAVE to read it...........2001-10-19

This book was extremely informative for anyone that might enjoy the economic history of Europe. For those that are reading it because you HAVE to; expect for the reading to go slow and to have to re-read certain areas. Jones could have said the same things with words half as long with half as many pages! In all fairness to the author, I read this only because it was mandatory for a college economics class; not because it is a topic I typically enjoy.

Interesting but not great.......2000-11-23

A sort of precursor to the brilliant book Guns Germs and Steel by Diamond. This book is by an Australian academic E.L.Jones. It seeks to explain why Europe a backward area of the world in the 1300's came to be the strongest by the 19th Century.

The weakness of the book is that it tends to generalize and talk about Europe as a whole. The author makes the interesting point that Asian and Islamic Civilizations although militarily powerful were not economically advanced. The wealth of individual peasants was low and the concentration of wealth in the autocratic rulers of such places was made possible because of a wide base of oppressed peasants. Europe although starting out from a poorer base had in general terms more affluent peasants and its countries were better able to take advantage of economic growth when the technologies came along.

In trying to explain why this was so the author looks at a wide range of factors. It would take a long time to list them but there is a lengthy examination of a wide range of factors including the absence of parasites because of the colder climate in Europe and the greater political freedom.

The problem is that Europe was not really a uniform entity. Different bits of Europe advanced and became wealthy for different reasons. England and the Netherlands developed extensive trade empires that made both countries very wealthy before the technological developments of the industrial revolution. Russia although backward was a country that expanded and from the time of Peter the Great increased its dominion by conquering a land based empire.

Contemporaries had no doubt for the success of these countries. They believed that the acquisition of territorial empires provided a basis of wealth for the home country. For this reason countries as diverse as Germany, Japan and the United States started to acquire empires by the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The reason for the success of the various European countries varied. Russia built up an autocratic state aimed at being able to field a large army. This was done by Peter the Great who changed the entire social system of land ownership to create obligations for military service. In England the acquisition of a maritime empire led to a strong fleet and a strong merchant class.

It is thus hard to put down the success of Europe to any common causes. Each European Country was dynamic and each developed different systems the more successful of which generated wealth and power. The less successful such as Poland were absorbed by the more successful.

Whilst the book is not perfect it is an interesting read. However Guns Germs and Steel is the best book on the topic.

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