Book review: A World Connecting 1870-1945
A book for scholars and students, A World Connecting is the first of six volumes that will comprise a history of the world, running from prehistoric times to the present.
edited by Akira Iriye et al
Belknap Press (Harvard)
A book for scholars and students, is the first of six volumes that will comprise a history of the world, running from prehistoric times to the present. It consists of five chapters by seven historians, with a new approach to the study of each era and of world history. This volume covers 75 years that saw many of the most important events of the modern era.
Each chapter contains a remarkable wealth of detail covering events all over the world. No one can accuse these authors of being Euro- or America-centric.
The chapter titled "Commodity Chains in a Global Economy", for example, contains sections on shipping, canals, railways, iron and steel, the automobile, the plane and telegraph; then metals, petroleum, rubber, grains, rice, sugar, coffee, tea and chocolate. The chapter is full of fascinating details on their history and development.
Take coffee, which originated in Ethiopia but did not become a mass product until the last third of the 19th century. It changed from a beverage for the elite and nobility of Europe into a drink for the working class of the US and Europe, aided by cheap sugar.
