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Book
Review |
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Marks, Robert B. The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological
Narrative (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002). 173 pp, $19.95.
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For both its strengths and weaknesses, Robert
B. Marks' book, The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological
Narrative, presents a very useful tool for world history courses, undergraduate
and graduate, as well as offering new concepts for scholars still locked
in rigid territorial or national studies. Marks traces the development of
international trade and its impact from 1400 until after 1850 by stressing
the universal nature of the industrial revolutions, trade networks, and
empire building; and he connects each element with the ever-growing gap
between nations involved in world trade. Like many texts written in the
last three years, Marks begins and ends with the events of 2001. The composition
in this concise book is clear and topics are interestingly presented, while
the source references make it useful for classroom research projects. Although
appreciating the complex nature of what Marks attempts here, this reviewer
had a suspicion, which grew throughout the book, that this is an Asia-centric
presentation of a heretofore Euro-centric topic: Africa and the Americas
still do not play active roles in creating the "modern world." |
1 |
Marks' introduction instructs the reader in
the elements of a non-Eurocentric study and states clearly the perspective
necessary to achieve a "polycentric" world view. This section of the book
is particularly valuable for the manner that major points are outlined for
a study in world trade. He takes this topic even further, however, when
he defines the "biological ancien regime" and hints at the changes
to come when "massive biological exchange would radically alter" trade relationships
by 1600 (38-39). The processes of 19th century industrialization,
then, created the transition from a world where life depended upon renewable
(solar) sources of energy to a world where people and their trade priorities
created radically altered environments. In these altered environments, mass
production of raw materials depended upon non-renewable energy sources and,
therefore, resulted in the destruction of environments. |
2 |
Perhaps because of his own work on the environmental
nature of trade between China, India and Europe, Marks documents these exchanges
most completely and convincingly. After providing a superb summary of China's
industrial background, Marks recounts the transitions of Indian Ocean trade
after the entry of the Portuguese in the late 15th century. Portuguese
merchants had no possessions of value to trade to Asians when they entered
the trade. However, they resolved the barriers this situation created through
the use of force—initiating a pattern of action that continued to
define European traders long afterward. And while this point is not new
in the scholarship, Marks sets it in a larger global context of internal
European economic competition as well as ecological destruction in regions
of production along trade routes. |
3 |
Weaknesses within The Origins of the Modern
World are not irreparable or fatal, but they detract from the book's
usefulness. As mentioned above, the book tends to downplay the roles African
and American peoples played in creating the modern world. Indeed, the book
could be strengthened considerably by presenting more information about
the continuances and changes of intercontinental and international trade
among African nations during this entire time period. Even more problematic,
however, is the assumption presented here that the peoples of the Americas
before the Columbian Exchanges engaged in little manufacturing and/or international
trade. According to Marks, the Americas after European conquest became passive
generators of raw materials that supplied Asian and European manufacturing
growth without fully participating in the demise of the "biological ancien
regime" and without developing "modern" characteristics. This omission
is not explained, and the bibliography reveals a lack of sources for such
information. |
4 |
In short, The Origins of the Modern World
is a helpful account of the principles and organization of trade in world
history, written from a global perspective. The outline Marks gives his
readers is extremely valuable and may be used easily to complete the story
he starts with this little book. Although he fails to incorporate Americans
and sub-Saharan Africans into his narrative, this instructor is confident
that other scholars will do so soon. |
5 |
Mary Watrous-Schlesinger
Washington State University |