books:

	Conquests And Cultures: An International History Thomas Sowell Basic Books, 1999 - 516 pages average customer review:based on 26 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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A good measured read with plenty to challenge the reader (who doesn't wear idealogical blinders). A good book to add to your library.

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several topics in one book

This book has several threads that interact.
One is that the geography of a country has a strong effect on its history. The western hemisphere did not have beasts of burden until Europeans arrived and therefore stayed in a primitive culture. England had iron ore near coal and both near the seacoast which provided cheap transportation.
Another thread is that some cultures learn from contact with other cultures and some do not. Scotland was invaded by England and when the English left Scotland outclassed the English in engineering and medicine even thought they were behind in the beginning. Earlier the Romans invaded England and improved conditions. When the Romans left the English retrograded for centuries.
Another thread is that human nature is the same all over the earth. All nations have dominated other nations and mistreated them.

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Conquests and Cultures

This book demonstrates quite clearly the growth and economic betterment of the people in underdeveloped countries through assistance from the Western Hemisphere world. The legacies of education, nutrition and economic growth and exchange of cultural knowledge brought about even by conquering armies is quite a surprise.
I especially liked the contrast between the desperate situation of the Irish during the various famines and wars with the English as compared to the relative security of the black population in the Southern United States during the periodof slavery.
The book makes a strong statement for the value of sharing technologies and opportunities between and amongst countries for their own betterment rather than merely rapiing the land of the conquered to satisfy the conquerer.

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Big-picture history

CaC is a series of case-studies looking at the interplay between (as the title indicates) conquest and cultural evolution. I enjoy "big-picture" history but, because the author tries to cover so many examples, the analysis seems to be just a touch shallow. Of course, CaC was probably intended as an overview to demonstrate a larger dynamic.

The most interesting section is the discussion of African slavery. I hadn't realized what a relatively small part the European powers played in the over-all slave-trade. I thought the treatment was fair--neither Euro-bashing nor revisionist.

The other topics were a little more familiar and not quite as interesting. (As I mentioned, the treatment not especially thorough. I flipped through a few parts.) Overall, CaC is pretty good--not great--but worth the time to read for the novice or amateur historian (especially if you're not familiar with the "Annales" school of history to which Sowell is obviously indebted).

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Encyclopedic in scope, but what's the point of it?

I love thomas Sowell's books. Whatever he tells he tells it fascinatingly, if he mentions it it's because its relevant, it's something to make you think, and what is more important in a writer: he makes you look at things from a new perspective. Not here, though. This book is huge in scope but... what the point? He tells us, in parallel, the devolpment of different cultures and civilizations of the world, to compare them. But comparison alone doesn't do the trick when you have to go through so much data and so many pages. I felt tempted to skip the whole thing and go to the conclusion, but even here it is not a conclusion... it's a summary of it all.

I don't want to discourage readers, though, because Mr sowell is one of the finest thinkers in the planet. He's got his feet on the ground as a true great conservative man he is.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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