The Economic History of the World

This book opens with a description of the thin layer of the earth's surface which man occupies. It aims to indicate how small and fragile the whole human enterprise is .Cipolla suggests that it is so miniscule that it is no wonder that other possible Civilizations cannot observe us. He then goes on to talk about the billions of years of earth's history and the small time Mankind has been part of this. Again he seems to want to underline the fragility and relative insignificance of our place in the Universe. He then puts our present Industrial and Scientific Civilization in the framework of Time Mankind has been said to exist, which he estimates as five hundred thousand years. He points out that the greatest part of that time human beings were involved in hunting for their subsistence, and that the Agricultural Revolution came with the Neolithic only ten- thousand years ago. He then traces out for the greater part of the book the history of Mankind in terms of its sources of energy, production and consumption , births and deaths ( population). He suggests that the accelerated population growth of the past century is creating unmanageable and undesirable pressure on resources. He too examines and deplores the great global inequality in distribution of resources. In his final chapter " The Age of Transition" he again refers to the three basic types of economic organization-hunting, agricultural, industrial as corresponding to the three ranges of demographic and economic organization society operates at. He says that now in our Age of Transition the Industrial form of organization is spreading throughout mankind, with correspondent abandonment of the land and crowding in great Cities.He says a new Age and style of life is emerging, and that this is subject for anguish and concern. He indicates family ties are on the wane, and a new form of technical training for the many will replace the philosophical education for the few. New tastes, values, ideals are part of the transition. Cipolla sees the Golden Age of Industrialization as 1850-1913 and suggests that we are now and will future generations will pay heavily in economic and social well- being for this process of Industrialization. He sees that there will be not only economic but also spiritual costs for it. He concludes by considering how in only ten- thousand years Mankind has moved from what he calls a state of savagery to a situation where he controls a good part of the world. He asks the question of whether our control over the Environment has led to correspondent increase in our quality as human beings. He laments that 'aggresiveness' which he sees as key to our survival in the world of savagery is still such a formative power in our lives. He worries over our weapons of mass- destruction and where our aggressiveness may take us with them.He too wonders whether the increase in the quantity of human beings will not lead to a decrease in the quality of our lives. He again mentions that at the

Professor Cipolla, in his preface, sets out his goal to; `...describe from a global point of view the development of mankind...'. He himself admits that this is quite a task, but luckily he sticks to his guns and we do get a good description.The book starts by describing the two revolutions that he feels changed our history the most, the agricultural revolution of around 10,000 years ago, and the more recent industrial revolution. He explains how these affected our development, and relates this to mankind's increasing need for sources of power. This is where I feel the book really shines. Although he tends to quote a little heavily, his quotes are always relevant.He touches on the inequality of the distribution of global income and, true to his goal, he merely describes it.For a more in depth, and much longer, explanation of most of the themes covered in this book, with most of the 'whys' explained, try Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel". For an off the beaten path explanation of underdevelopment, which Cipolla touches on, try André Gunder Frank's "On Capitalist Underdevelopment" I enjoyed the book, reading it in one sitting. It definitely does what it set out to do. It does leave you asking why a lot, but then again his goal wasn't to tackle the 'whys'. Although the book was written in the early 1960's, thanks to the timescale it covers it has aged well, and is worth adding to a bookshelf.