The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story

Book Description

History has long maintained that the Anglo-Saxon overtaking of the Iron Age Celts was the origin of the British people. Celtic Britain reconstructs the peopling of Britain — through a study of genetics, climatology, archaeology, language, culture, and history — and overturns that myth and others. The Anglo-Saxons, who supposedly conquered the Celts, contributed only five to ten percent of the British gene pool. The “Atlantic Celts,” long believed to have migrated to Britain from Central Europe around 300 BC during the Iron Age, can be linked genetically to the people of Basque country. And linguistic evidence suggests that, besides Celtic languages, a Germanic-type language similar to Norse was also spoken in Britain long before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons.

In this groundbreaking study, Stephen Oppenheimer explaines the surprising roots of the present-day cultural identities of the English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh.

Customer Reviews:

Great Britain as New Euskaria.......2007-09-23

An excellent book, like being back in college and taking a fun course with a witty, funny and knowledgeable professor. I appreciated the linear format with thesis backed with evidence approach. As a precaution, just like college, there were many terms and ideas that went over my head, which meant having to do some additional homework to catch up with text, but well worth the detour. To this regard, the appendix and glossary were extremely valuable. I have always been fascinated with the origins of the Basque; why would they be the only non Indo-European, Sub-Saharan or Semitic language in all of Europe and the Mediterranean and why stuck in the middle of Pyrenees? My other linguistic quandry was the lack of celtic words in the English language and the lack of consistency between English and Dutch/German/Danish. Finally the technology catches up with speculative history and paints a different picture of Western Europe. It is human nature to embelish, pander to the audience or just plain preach propaganda. But blood doesn't lie and for me all the pieces of the puzzle came together in Mr. Oppenheimer's book. I have no doubt the thesis will be seminal in the re-writing of British History.

Difficult, but intermittently rewarding.......2007-08-07

Not the place to begin, but this book may reward advanced readers who can handle a popularized but scholarly work on the implications of recent findings in DNA. Earlier readers posting here frequently disparage this book's ponderous prose and its massive array of recondite DNA analyses. After reading more accessible, and considerably shorter (no coincidence!) works on genetics and anthropology by Spencer Wells and Bryan Sykes (for both authors, their two most recent books reviewed by me on Amazon), I felt ready to tackle Oppenheimer's work, despite its difficulty. While the time invested paid off in a better knowledge of the Celtic and British origin debate and the possible influence of Germanic cultural and linguistic influences preceding not only the Anglo-Saxon invasion but the preceding Roman occupation, Oppenheimer while he may be a better scholar than Sykes remains a less entertaining writer. Sykes can popularize his findings in "Blood of the Isles" & "Seven Daughters of Eve." He also can profit from them if you note the enterprise Oxford Genetics. As I commented when reviewing Sykes' "Blood," it remains curious that two geneticists both at Oxford do not even mention the other colleague in hundreds of pages of closely documented and meticulously referenced texts.

This apparent rivalry aside, Oppenheimer acknowledges very late in his text that names given to Rostov or Ian or Helena are merely "aides memoires" for R1B-11 or the like in an alphabet soup of markers all geneticists rely upon. Readers of both Sykes & Oppenheimer sniff disdainfully at this popularization, but surely both scientists and lay people need assistance in imagining "Eve" or "Lucy" or the "Ice Man" to make more personal the findings buried in blood types or bone samples. Oppenheimer carefully explains his reasons for clarifying relationships among these difficult classifications, numbering in the thousands by now. Much explanatory material on genetics here is relegated to appendices and a glossary; while Sykes & Wells integrate more definitions and analogies into their briefer, more readable books, Oppenheimer opts for density.

This can bore a reader. My eyes glazed over in the second hundred pages full of dull genetics. The first hundred, tackling the Celtic origins debate and guardedly based on scholars such as Simon James & Barry Cunliffe, and Iron Age archaeologists such as John Collis, argues a southerly direction into the British Isles for Celtic infusion, not the La Tene Danube-Central European homeland and its overland route for entry into the Isles. Personally, I'd have liked to have Bob Quinn's book "The Atlantean Irish" (reviewed by me) credited for its prescience regarding the Atlantic Celt "fringe" movement that Cunliffe and others have since fought to replace the Continental migration theories of the 19c. This vexed matter alone, building upon the past two decades of Celtic revision, or Celto-skepticism, could fill an entire book easily.

But, I did perk up eventually. This is more a reference book on a variety of unevenly covered but admittedly provocative topics. He writes clearly in places and dully in many others, depending it seems on his diligence vs. his enthusiasm! This is an arduous trek, but you need to weather this if your curiosity's aroused about this intellectual terrain that for the first time geneticists and linguists have entered to do battle over, not to mention archeologists and historians!

Advances in DNA may soon rely on its suggestions, or they may overturn its assumptions. But, Oppenheimer bravely piles all he has amassed for the benefit of science. It may be too clunky and over-ambitious, but he has done specialized researchers, armchair genealogists, and academics like myself needing a non-technical explanation of dozens of arcane debates all a service.

Oppenheimer builds on this fact-laden if recondite foundation to posit that many of today's ancestors came to the Isles perhaps as early as around 15-7,500 years ago. The land bridge before the end of the last Ice Age became submerged allowed two major inflows of migration, from a Ukrainian-Moldavian refuge, and an Iberian refuge. The former provided a basis for North Sea movements added to later by Scandinavians, Saxons, Belgae, and other Continental peoples. The latter brought people in on the Irish, Welsh, and Scottish sides closest to the Irish Sea that opened up in the later periods of global warming. Germanic languages cannot have diverged in Old English so rapidly after the Saxon incursions, nor were (against the Welsh historian Gildas' spurious claims of Celtic "wipeout") the indigenous natives necessarily Celtic-speakers all prior to the landing of Hengist and his post-Roman mercenaries.

Percentages of genetic disruption rarely reach even the point of "decimation" of 10% in a handful of Anglian areas, according to genetic studies of inhabitants today in these long-stable regions of Britain. Simply and ineradicably, this persistent divide, genetically and perhaps linguistically, Oppenheimer proposes, persists in our DNA. This parallels the Germanic vs. Celtic division of languages in the Isles, the spine of mountains serving as an insular border between these two major routes for farming and colonization.

The hoary myth of a Celtic genocide by Teutonic overlords that inspired Arthur's last stand, it seems, proves more a "Dark Age" screed than plausible history. Granted that this early medieval era remains fraught with dangers for those reliant only on chronicles or a misleading archeological record, Oppenheimer here makes his boldest suggestion.

Probably the first to enter this fray as a geneticist, he confronts linguistic assumptions about the rapid spread and dialectal evolution in only a few centuries of Anglo-Saxon in post-Roman Britain. Germanic languages, he opines, might have become established long before Romans, let alone Saxons, entered into what was not necessarily a Celtic-dominated Brittania. Celts themselves, whatever this term means given the looseness of this pseudo-ethnic linguistic concept, did not rush en masse into the islands, and they too were perhaps the harbingers of not a massive demographic invasion but an elite influencing cultural and linguistic trends among the natives, who may date back ten thousand years before the arrival of Celtic-language speakers. Unfortunately, traces of any words that are pre-Celtic lurk rarely in the archaeological record, according to most experts. We lack a Rosetta Stone to decode whatever insular peoples spoke before Celtic languages became the norm among both the newcoming elite and the long-settled old-timers.

Therefore, Oppenheimer turns to DNA for clues. He challenges linguists who for a century have been indoctrinated to ignore searching for language origins. He argues that science can offer tentative solutions that account for a Germanic undercurrent that may not be that apparent on the surface, but which aligns with what we know about rates of linguistic change that may have begun as long ago as 3000 BCE (estimates differ) that can be calibrated with patterns of genetic migration.

His thesis? Most of the original British Isles inhabitants descend from a massive "founder population"-- maybe far more than three-fourths or more of those today living in some locales. Due to genetics and settlement patterns, most humans stick to one place for millennia. This conservatism therefore provides a solid bedrock. It cannot be eroded even by the waves of more recent, and tribally-named, intruders. While closer to us in time and in the historical record (however tenuous!), these famous warriors themselves often number in the low single-digits (5% often!) in terms of percentages of genetic "material" we British and/or Celts carry today.

All subsequent immigrations, whether Celt, Roman, Saxon, Angle, Jute, Viking, or Norman, Oppenheimer states in the closing line of his epilogue, diminish by their traces in the descendants of the majority who trace their roots to British-resident or Celtic-origin DNA today. Most of the origins of the British predate even the Celts. Oppenheimer concludes: "we are all minorities compared with the first, unnamed pioneers, who ventured into the empty, chilly lands so recently vacated by the great ice sheets." (421)

The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story.......2007-08-02

Oppenheimer has written the most comprehensive, well organized and complete description of the deep origins of the British peoples. At the present time it is easily the best of any other available title. The author is at the very edge of contemporary genetic studies. One of the book's strengths is its inclusion of many of the findings of other genetic researchers. It also contains supporting materials from other disciplines and classical writers.

I found the book to be well written, meticulously documented, illustrated with maps and other visual materials, and well organized for a work of its breath. It is written for the educated or self-educated reader and does presuppose some familiarity with basic genetics and dna structure. If a potential reader fears he/she does not have this background, I recommend purchasing a companion primer on dna or download materials from even Wikipedia. Most genealogists will have little trouble with the technical terms.

I have read critiques that this book gives no final answers. This is true but the author provides the best interpretation of British prehistory available from today's science and supporting disciplines. A good companion book to read with this book is Barry Cunliffe's Facing the Ocean: the Atlantic and Its Peoples.

Accessible, yet not dumbed down.......2007-07-28

For anyone interested in the early history of the British isles this book is a must. Oppenheimer gathered all the information concerning the genetic history of the British isles floating around on the internet, scholarly journals, academic works, etc., and having assembled it all, presents it a serious, yet very readable fashion. Like Sykes and other genetic scholars he used cutsy names to represent specific genetic lineages, but he doesn't force the reader to have to deal with a fictional account of prehistoric lives. Instead the names are easily remembered catch phrases for the aforementioned groups.
Sykes confirmed earlier arguments about ancient regional divisions between populations in the British isles, but rather than beat the Anglo vs. Celtic drum, he argues that the English, Scots, Irish and Welsh all came out of the same prehistoric mix of Iberian, Near Eastern, and Eastern European migrants. Sykes does not, however, argue against the validity of "Celtic" as an lable representing certain populations in Western Europe. Rather, we need to rethink the way in which we use the term.
Using a rational - if not 100% believable argument - based on linguistics, history, genetics and archaeology, Sykes also contends that the roots of the English language in what is now Eastern England might predate the Roman invasion. In other words the linguistic division between the Welsh and the English is not the result of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, instead owing to more long-standing prehistoric social and cultural divisions.

Great Analysis.......2007-05-14

This book is incredibly insightful on a topic that few people know about. It accurately and convincingly dispels many rumors and genealogical cover-ups and gets right down to what is factual. That, in my opinion, is what is most important about a book that presents many important concepts in a objective manner. Forget about the fact that he happens to use "pet names," and that he can drone on a little. His contemporary Bryan Sykes, who wrote a book on exactly the same topic, does the exact same thing and comes to the same basic conclusions. In any case, the meat of the books, the facts, haven't been disputed as of yet.

The Struggle for Soviet Jewish Emigration, 19481967 (Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies)

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The Struggle for Soviet Jewish Emigration, 19481967 (Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies)
Yaacov Ro'i
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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In this important new study of Soviet Jewry, Yaacov Ro'i examines their struggle for emigration from the establishment of the State of Israel to the outbreak of the Six-Day War. Using a range of personal interviews, he explores how Jewish self awareness arose both as a result of the founding of the State of Israel and as a product of the Holocaust. Local groups developed and sustained Jewish cultural interests and their Jewish identity in the face of popular anti-Semitism and Soviet policy. The author continues by analyzing the campaign conducted in the West and mobilized by the Israeli government on behalf of Soviet Jewish rights as a whole and emigration in particular. Ro'i convincingly argues that despite the efforts of Soviet Jewish groups to flourish in a steadfastly anti-Semitic system, by 1967 most had accepted that the only way of implementing their Zionist aspirations was to emigrate to Israel. However, without the extensive groundwork carried out in the period 1948-1967, it is doubtful if the mass emigration of the 1970s would have been possible.

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Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 9001900 (Studies in Environment and History)

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Comparison With Guns, Germs, and Steel
Interesting Theory
A landmark (but dated) study on the ecological dimension of European expansion
Book Review: "Ecological Imperialism"
Triumph of the pig, the rat, the dandelion, the smallpox virus... and the European humans who gave them a ride across the ocean

Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 9001900 (Studies in Environment and History)
Alfred W. Crosby
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521546184

Book Description

People of European descent form the bulk of the population in most of the temperate zones of the world--North America, Australia and New Zealand. The military successes of European imperialism are easy to explain because in many cases they were achieved by using firearms against spears. Alfred Crosby, however, explains that the Europeans' displacement and replacement of the native peoples in the temperate zones was more a matter of biology than of military conquest. Now in a new edition with a new preface, Crosby revisits his classic work and again evaluates the ecological reasons for European expansion. Alfred W. Crosby is the author of the widely popular and ground-breaking books,The Measure of Reality (Cambridge, 1996), and America's Forgotten Pandemic (Cambridge, 1990). His books have received the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize, the Medical Writers Association Prize and been named by the Los Angeles Times as among the best books of the year. He taught at the University of Texas, Austin for over 20 years. First Edition Hb (1986): 0-521-32009-7 First Edition Pb (1987): 0-521-33613-9

Customer Reviews:

Comparison With Guns, Germs, and Steel.......2007-10-04

In the first sentence of the prologue, Alfred Crosby defines his thesis for this book. He says: "European emigrants and their descendants are all over the place, which requires explanation." It is an interesting statement to ponder and an even more interesting one to answer. Crosby does so in a very readable, sometimes humorous style and with convincing arguments. Originally published in 1986, this has become a classic for those studying or just interested in environmental history. He delves into the subjects of not only the migrations of people, but also their animals, domesticated plants and diseases. Does this sound at all familiar? Jared Diamond took up the same subject in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, Guns, Germs, and Steel. One can't but help but compare them.

The first question to ask is Diamond's book is so popular and Crosby's not so well known? After all, Ecological Imperialism also won an award, the 1987 Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize given by Phi Beta Kappa, and justifiably so. It is solid scholarship presented in a manner accessible to anyone interested enough to pick up the book. In fact, I found it much more readable than Diamond's book, which presents so much information, it is a little hard to take it all in. Diamond expands upon several of Crosby's assertions--that not only the people from Europe successfully invaded the New World, but so did their plants, animals and germs.

A part of the history of the European invasions (or Neo-Europes as Crosby defines them) which Diamond does not cover are the attempts to settle in a new land that failed. Chapter 3 entitled The Norse and the Crusaders takes an interesting look at why the initial Norse settlements in "Vinland" did not work, and why the attempt to conquer the Holy Land for Christianity failed. In the first instance, the Norsemen came to Vinland, or what is today Newfoundland by way of Greenland, not directly from Norway. Their boats were not seaworthy enough to have made the journey directly across the Atlantic Ocean. Thus when the settlement in Greenland withered and died, so did the connection with Vinland. Crosby points out that ironically, because of the viability of the land, Vinland could have supported the colony in Greenland, but it was not possible the other way around.

These failures helped set the stage for what was to become one of the most important changes in human and ecological history. Crosby tells this story with interest and ease. Why then, has Diamond's book been so popular as opposed to Crosby's? Diamond's contains a lot more detailed information, although in my opinion this makes it more difficult to read. Diamond may have been more well known, having won the MacArthur Foundation fellowship prior to the publication of his book. But it may have been a matter of timing--the public was more interested in the topic at the time of publication, but probably there was also just some amount of sheer luck. Whatever the reason, you won't regret the time you spend with Crosby. It is a thought provoking and interesting read.

Interesting Theory.......2007-01-22

"Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion Of Europe, 900-1900"
by Alfred W. Crosby. Cambridge University Press, 1986.
The implication of this book's theory is that the Europeans succeeded in the "New" World due to the imperialistic strength of European flora and fauna. European cattle and European horses conquered the plains of both North America and Argentina, making them "neo-Europes". When Columbus introduced the pig, (either inadvertently or consciously), he knew that that the porcine animal species would "conquer" their local environment. The author's excellent writing follows this theme throughout his book, but, in my opinion, he spends too much time on New Zealand ... pages 217 to 268.

Yet, if the author's thesis is correct, the book becomes a disparaging comment on human efforts. For example, compare the Pilgrims' landing in 1620 with the landing of Hernando De Cortez (1485-1547) at Vera Cruz in 1519. The Pilgrims snuck ashore, onto that Rock in Plymouth, on a cold winter's day. There was no one to meet them, as the locals (or "indigenes" as Crosby likes to call them) had all been killed off by strange and new diseases. The diseases were probably brought over by Englishmen; otherwise where did Squanto, the Indian chief, learn his rudimentary English? (Just as my aside, if the Scots, who first settled in Ulster, Ireland and then came to North America, are known as Scots-Irish, why weren't the Pilgrims known as "Anglo-Dutch"?)

In February 1519, more than a century before the Pilgrims, Hernando De Cortez landed at the Rich Villa of the Holy Cross, Vera Cruz, with some 500-600 men, to face not thousands, but hundreds of thousands. To instill courage in his men, Cortez burnt his boats. The Spanish had to go forward and they conquered an empire. On the other hand the Pilgrims occupied a dead village. In both cases, European diseases were the deciding factor, but the achievement of either group was entirely different. Crosby's book treats them as if they were equal.

I believe that Alfred W. Crosby has hit on something that bears further investigation. In the late summer of 2004, I attended a wedding in Slovenia. As we drove through Germany, I noticed goldenrod by the sides of the corn fields. I asked and I was told that goldenrod was introduced as a flowering plant but was not doing so well in Europe. I wonder if Crosby's thesis was borne out by the lack of success of goldenrod ...and other American plants? Don't get me wrong: since I am allergic to goldenrod, I am happy it was NOT successful in German farm fields, but why?

A landmark (but dated) study on the ecological dimension of European expansion.......2006-07-16

Alfred Crosby is widely credited for popularising the ecological dimension of the history of imperial expansion. For this reason, and perhaps this reason alone, his book is worth a read.

The book, first published in 1986, revolutionised the way we think about European imperial expansion into the New World. How a few hundred disoriented Europeans armed with spears and misfiring guns managed to overwhelm entire Inca and Aztec civilisations in the early sixteenth century, for example. Crosby convincingly casts aside traditional political or military explanations by attributing the astonishing Portuguese and Spanish victories to bacteriology: how diseases such as smallpox and measles that the Europeans unwittingly carried with them wiped out thousands of New World inhabitants, severely crippling their defences.

The larger point that Crosby drives across is a profound one. Historical events - in this case, European expansion and imperialism - can be explained predominantly by ecological factors. In the clash of `biotas' between the Old and the New World, the Old World won. Convincingly. Hence the presence not just of Europeans in the Americas, but also of pigs and dandelions. According to this thesis, ecology shaped European expansion; creating `Neo-Europes' in the New World that facilitated European migration, precipitating the `Caucasian wave' from the 1820s to the 1930s. Unlike in most other histories, in Crosby's ecological history, humans form the backdrop and inexorable ecological forces take centre-stage.

Refreshing as this perspective is, the way that Crosby has rendered it is problematic in on a number of accounts. By excluding humans from the picture; or at best relegating human developments to the sidelines, Crosby emerges with a dangerously reductive picture of historical development. Deterministic ecological explanations cannot alone account for European expansion - after all, we must not forget that the first European transoceanic voyages were motivated by curiosity rather than necessity. More problematic is the book's implicit assumption that ecological influence was unidirectional. In concentrating on explicating the Old World's ecological victory over the New, Crosby neglects to examine the influence that New World ecology had on the Old.

Nonetheless, Crosby's work remains a landmark study that deserves a read. Moreover, it packs a punch as a piece of writing - its lucid narratives and provocative assertions laid out with the bold and elegant strokes of a master-artist. Yet Crosby's work is also increasingly a dated study that has been qualified over and over by new works in the field, or in the related field of environmental history. Those interested in the subject should by no means stop at Crosby's book.

Book Review: "Ecological Imperialism" .......2006-04-10

Book Review: "Ecological Imperialism"
In his book, Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900, Alfred W. Crosby investigates the roots of European domination over the western world. He calls the places where early Europeans settled "Neo-Europes" with special emphasis on North and South America , Australia , and New Zealand . In his prologue he ponders whether Europeans dominated their environment and other cultures because of their technology, or whether the consistent "success of European imperialism has a biological, [and] an ecological, component.". Crosby 's thesis is that Europeans were successful imperialists because wherever they went their agriculture and animals thrived; and the indigenous populations and local ecosystems collapsed under their biological advance.
Crosby begins at the beginning, discussing the one big continent, Pangaea, supposed to have existed in pre-history and the slow development of life forms other than reptilian, in particular Homo sapiens. The break up of Pangaea (this hypothetical super-continent) caused the "the decentralization of the process of evolution," that is, when the land cracked apart flora and fauna were spilt between the newly created continents. That continental split is the reason similar species are found in Europe and North America.
Eventually Crosby brings the reader up to the end of the Ice Age. Ten thousand years ago humans were exploring the islands of the Eastern Atlantic including Australia . Once on these islands humans domesticated plants, piled up mounds of garbage, spread disease, and hunted animals into extinction. Normally the despoilment of indigenous flora and fauna occurs over tens of thousands of years. In locations where humans arrived with mature hunting skills a sudden extinction of local plant and animal life occurred. These sudden prehistoric, or Pleistocene, overkills were the first concentrated impact humans had on virgin ecosystems.
The virgin ecosystem of Porto Santo Island was the destination of Portuguese settlers during the 1400s. Porto Santo Island was completely uninhabited and filled with untouched flora and fauna. One Portuguese ship captain brought a mother rabbit and her babies to the island. The rabbits loved Porto Santo and thrived in the island environment. So much so that soon the settlers were blasting away at the rabbits in an attempt to exterminate the entire local rabbit population. It seems the rabbits could not determine the difference between the crops meant for human consumption and the crops meant for bunny consumption. The rabbits won in this instance and for a time the settlers moved elsewhere, "defeated by their own ecological ignorance."
The experience of Spanish invaders in the Canaries showed them that no matter where they went, even if they could not out-fight their opponents, Europeans could dominate their enemies anyway. "In all these [new] places, the newcomers would conquer the human populations and Europeanize entire ecosystems." The Spanish learned from their experiences in the Canaries that their livestock and crops would succeed in these new environments; they also learned they could easily defeat the local natives without traditional warfare. The various "plagues" and "sleeping sicknesses," which the Spanish called peste and modorra, killed off and weakened natives who had no natural immunity to ailments common to the Spanish. In essence, sore throats and colds were the winning weapons of the conquerors; it was the flu that subjugated the Canaries.
The unfortunate natives of the Canary Islands , the Guanches, did not survive their meeting with the Spanish sailors. These previously isolated people died rapidly from dysentery, pneumonia, and venereal disease. According to Crosby "few experiences are as dangerous to a people's survival as the passage from isolation to membership in the worldwide community that included European sailors, soldiers, and settlers." When the Spanish conquered the Canaries the Guanches lost their land and therefore their livelihood. Some Guanches joined the Spanish army and went to fight in the Americas ; the Spanish sold others into slavery. The majority of Guanches however died of disease and the entire population became extinct.
Unlike the Guanches of the Canaries, the Maoris of New Zealand did survive despite great odds. When invaded by Europeans the Maoris assumed they would become extinct. European rats annihilated the Maori rat, an animal that was a food staple for the natives. The Maori fly might have help ward off the incursion of sheep that quickly destroyed the local flora, but invading European houseflies wiped out the local flies. Clover took over where ferns had been, and the Maori waited for their own extinction. The Maori population hit bottom in 1890 but then began a mysterious recovery and 280,000 people claim to be Maori by 1981.
In the 1500s Europeans arrived in the Americas with horses, technology (weapons), domesticated plants (crops), farm animals, germs, insects, diseases, weeds, and varmints. The garbage piled up by farmers encouraged varmint populations (mainly mice and rats) which spread disease and attacked human food supplies. Crosby devoted an entire chapter to the spread of weeds around the world. Weeds are not specific plants. "Weed" is a general term applied to a plant that spreads rapidly and encroaches on other plants. The study of where specific weeds appeared and when, aids in tracking population movements. The weeds brought by Europeans were actually another unintentional imperial victory. Weeds repaired damaged top soils and provided feed for livestock. " Rye and oats were once weeds." "Weeds are the Red Cross of the plant world; they deal with ecological emergencies." "Weeds thrive on radical change, not stability. That, in the abstract, is the reason for the triumph of European weeds in the Neo-Europes..." Weeds were resilient and thrived in soils laid bare by European plows, and damaged by drastically altered ecosystems.
European populations exploded in the Americas and Australia . What distinguished these Neo-Europes were the large food surpluses they generated. Neo-Europes led the world in food production "relative to the amount locally consumed." Other cultures actually produced more food per capita and per hectare, but the Neo-Europes exported more food than any other society. Especially successful exports from Neo-Europes were wheat, soybeans, pig products, and beef. Europeans consistently chose to settle in temperate climates where their animals and crops thrived. This was prudent and logical, it would have made no sense for Europeans to settle in torrid climates where their livestock would have suffered, and their favorite crops could not be grown.
The wind also aided European imperialists. When faced with strong winds the Portuguese marinheiros, true sailors, did not turn around and go home or sit sail-less in the water until the winds changed. Marinheiros would "sail around the wind." Sailors would tack close enough to the contrary wind to keep moving and then find a wind that they could use to continue their course. The Portuguese who perfected this "crabwise slide" called it the volta do mar, literally "going back to the sea." This understanding of winds allowed marinheiros to sail out on trade winds and back home on the westerlies.
Smallpox was the big killer of the Aztecs and the Incas in Peru ; the Huron and Iroquois in Mexico ; and the Amerindians of the United States . Crosby claims the victories of the Conquistadors over the Amerindians were "in large part the triumphs of the virus of smallpox." Besides smallpox Europeans brought dysentery and influenza; those epidemics killed almost the whole indigenous population of North America . In effect, the domination over ecology and culture by European invaders was more of a biological accident, than a well-executed military takeover.
Virgin soil epidemics spread through populations who had no prior contact with European diseases. These populations had no immunity to protect them. Virgin soil epidemics had many dramatic consequences. First, the epidemics effectively committed genocide, killing entire populations of native people around the world. Second, certain diseases (measles, influenza, tuberculosis) effected people fifteen to forty years of age more than others. These young adults were responsible for most of the labor involved in supplying food, procreation, raising children, and defending the society. The third and fourth effects of virgin soil epidemics were cultural optimism on the part of the conquerors, and cultural fatalism on the part of the conquered. When Europeans arrived and slew their rivals without raising a sword they believed that God must be on their side and this belief affirmed the rightness of their imperialistic actions. When the indigenous people died by the hoard from mysterious ailments they developed a fatalistic view of their own destiny and supposed the white man's Gods were the more powerful.
Ecological Imperialism is interesting, occasionally humorous, and easy to read. Crosby accomplishes his goal of writing a big book. This author presents a convincing and encompassing explanation for the incredible success of European imperialists. The book leaves the reader with more questions. How aggressively imperialistic were the original conquerors if all they had to do was show up and their opponents fell to the wayside? Crosby argues convincingly that Europeans were triumphant because the places they chose to conquer had ecosystems and indigenous populations that surrendered to the biology of the invaders.

Triumph of the pig, the rat, the dandelion, the smallpox virus... and the European humans who gave them a ride across the ocean.......2006-02-26

The most impressive and pleasant aspect of this new approach to world history is the non-anthropocentric perspective Crosby adopts. He tells the story of the expansion of a tightly connected group of European organisms, which includes humans alongside with other domesticated animals, crops, weeds, viruses and bacteria.

The book shows that humans were the leading elements in this great expansion beyond Europe and across the oceans - but they would not have managed to successfully invade, occupy and dominate vast areas of the planet such as America, Australia and New Zealand if they had not been supported by a powerful combination of fauna, flora and germs. In fact, often enough these supporting organisms even took the lead in making the "new-found" territories hospitable for Europeans. Once they had arrived to faraway lands with similar climatic conditions as Europe - but with much less people, germs, domesticated animals and plants - the horses, pigs, cows, sheep, bees, rats, weeds and endemic diseases carried by European vessels began spreading quickly in these totally unexposed areas, and thrived mainly by destroying the native organisms.

Another important point developed by Crosby is that this apparently aggressive invasion and occupation of other continents was actually the consequence of a long process started many thousands of generations before, and of which Europeans were totally unaware. They were simply the ones most prepared and willing to cross unknown oceans (in fact, for centuries they had to painfully learn all about winds and currents - for which many a vessel with all its human and non-human crew had to be sacrificed) and settle down many 1000 of kilometres away from their original home, because the "old continent" had become overpopulated, deforested and overgrazed. Their "ecological imperialism" was in the end part of their struggle to survive and reproduce (to the disadvantage of other human and non-human organisms).

Thus, Crosby urges his readers to think of this propagation of certain humans and their accompanying flora, fauna and germs in detriment of others as a natural phenomenon. In fact, he often compares the European ecological expansion with an "avalanche" or a "bursting dam", i.e., something that had to inevitably happen given the circumstances. In this scenario, it becomes clear that these organisms were vehicles for a great "biological revolution" (in the words of the author), where humans were the spearhead of the movement - but hardly the all-knowing, dominant, free agents they mostly imagine(d) themselves to be.

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CREATIVE, SCHOLARLY, & VASTLY ENTERTAINING
I'm Sorry...

The American Discovery of Europe
Jack D. Forbes
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Expeditions & Discoveries | World | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0252031520

Customer Reviews:

CREATIVE, SCHOLARLY, & VASTLY ENTERTAINING.......2007-08-29

What a treasure to read a well researched, provocative book in the intellectual desert of the mainstream. Dr. Forbes' book is an oasis of reason and evidence measured against mainstream books seeking to make career gains by parroting the already said.
Dr. Forbes is Professor Emeritus, and although his career is not over, he certainly doesn't have to publish or perish. Clearly, this book was a labor of love, and it is filled with hard work and creativity that few can match.
This work challenges the omnipresent mindset that Europeans discovered America and challenges the concomitant assumption that Native Americans do not have agency, nor do they explore or do anything of importance. In other words, Dr. Forbes' book challenges the status quo, something every one of his books has done over the last five decades.
I have read almost every book Dr. Forbes has written, and I can say without equivocation that this book delivers.
Now, when you challenge the status quo you have to have your game down and provide plenty of evidence to support your case. You have to cite, cite, cite or the naysayer conformists will crucify you and your work.
Of course, the naysayer conformists will still crucify you with the complaint that you cited too much. What they are truly upset about is that you provided too much evidence and reason, so they are mad you whooped them on their own court with their ball. So they whine.
For the scientific at heart, for people looking for truth and reason in a mainstream fraught with destitute intellectual anomie, this latest book by Dr. Forbes is a refreshing feast of evidence, creativity, and reason spun with his unique blend of humor, wit, and irony.
Be sure to read this intellectual work par excellence!

I'm Sorry..........2007-07-27

"The American discovery Of Europe" by Jack D. Forbes.
University of Illinois Press, 2007.

I'm sorry. I wanted to like this book based upon the central thesis alone, but. The central thesis is wonderful: due to the prevailing winds and prevailing waves, flotsam from the American continents must have washed up on European shoes long before Christopher Columbus made his voyage of discovery in 1492. As a person of Irish descent, I am happy to see a neglected area of history/geography investigated which would make Ireland more important in the story of mankind. But! Then...

It appeared to me that the author quoted person after person SO his first chapter (entitled "Americans Across The Atlantic"), seemed to be filled more with other people's words than the author's original work. (As an example, look at pages 30 & 31.) My historiography professor once corrected me and told that I had to put some original ideas in between all the citations.

And then!! The author wants to be more than just a little bit politically correct, and he tells us that he will use three (3) different names for Christopher Columbus: English, Italian and Spanish. I looked at the publisher: University of Illinois Press, so I figured that the book was intended for an English-speaking audience ... and all the three different names did was to interrupt the flow of reading the book. Do you know what a Colon is in human anatomy? This kind of political correctness ain't worth it. In future books, I do hope that the author, Jack D. Forbes, uses Karl der Grosse for Charlemagne and Maria Antonia for Marie Antoinette, or is that kind of political correctness not acceptable?

Chapter 4, "Ancient Travelers And Migrations", was interesting, exhibiting the wealth of knowledge the author has on American Indians. But, even here, his prose turned me off. On page 83, he states "The Tuscarora also move north to join the Six Nations". Illogical! The Tuscarora moved north to join the FIVE Nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca), to BECOME the Six Nations. See Wikipedia: "A sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined after the original five nations were formed." In my opinion, this is sloppy writing on the part of the writer..

The killer of it all is on the back cover. Professor Hartmut Lutz, Greifswald University, East Germany, is quoted as saying, "...the slaver Christopher Columbus". I would observe that any German professor in a German university should wait for a couple more centuries before he calls any historical figure a slaver, unless, of course, he is addressing Adolf or perhaps Hermann. I am surprised at the lack of sensitivity on the part of the editors of the University of Illinois. I was offended.

For a wonderful thesis: five stars. For writing that did not flow: one star. For silly political correctness: zero stars. If you are writing for an English speaking audience, use the common English names. For maps that are TERRIBLE: zero stars. (See pages 26 and 28. By the way, in this period of global warming, I think that the author's audience is terribly familiar with the effects of the Gulf Stream. If the Gulf Stream stops flowing, Ireland freezes.) Four into six is 1.5 stars, so round up to two stars.

Barbarian Tides: The Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire (Middle Ages Series)

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Barbarian Tides: The Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire (Middle Ages Series)
Walter Goffart
Manufacturer: University of Pennsylvania Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0812239393

Book Description

The Migration Age is still envisioned as an onrush of expansionary "Germans" pouring unwanted into the Roman Empire and subjecting it to pressures so great that its western parts collapsed under the weight. Further developing the themes set forth in his classic Barbarians and Romans, Walter Goffart dismantles this grand narrative, shaking the barbarians of late antiquity out of this "Germanic" setting and reimagining the role of foreigners in the Later Roman Empire. The Empire was not swamped by a migratory Germanic flood for the simple reason that there was no single ancient Germanic civilization to be transplanted onto ex-Roman soil. Since the sixteenth century, the belief that purposeful Germans existed in parallel with the Romans has been a fixed point in European history. Goffart uncovers the origins of this historical untruth and argues that any projection of a modern Germany out of an ancient one is illusory. Rather, the multiplicity of northern peoples once living on the edges of the Empire participated with the Romans in the larger stirrings of late antiquity. Most relevant among these was the long militarization that gripped late Roman society concurrently with its Christianization. If the fragmented foreign peoples with which the Empire dealt gave Rome an advantage in maintaining its ascendancy, the readiness to admit military talents of any social origin to positions of leadership opened the door of imperial service to immigrants from beyond its frontiers. Many barbarians were settled in the provinces without dislodging the Roman residents or destabilizing landownership; some were even incorporated into the ruling families of the Empire. The outcome of this process, Goffart argues, was a society headed by elites of soldiers and Christian clergy--one we have come to call medieval. Walter Goffart is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Toronto and Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer at Yale University.

Germany in Transit: Nation and Migration, 1955-2005 (Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism)

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Germany in Transit: Nation and Migration, 1955-2005 (Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism)

Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520248945

Book Description

How does migration change a nation? Germany in Transit is the first sourcebook to illuminate the country's transition into a multiethnic society--from the arrival of the first guest workers in the mid-1950s to the most recent reforms in immigration and citizenship law. The book charts the highly contentious debates about migrant labor, human rights, multiculturalism, and globalization that have unfolded in Germany over the past fifty years--debates that resonate far beyond national borders.
This cultural history in documents offers a rich archive for the comparative study of modern Germany against the backdrop of European integration, transnational migration, and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Divided into eleven thematic chapters, Germany in Transit includes 200 original texts in English translation, as well as a historical introduction, chronology, glossary, bibliography, and filmography.

Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag (Human Rights and Crimes against Humanity)

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An interesting glimpse into the 'second' Gulag
Powerful. Incredible. The holocaust at Cannibal Island.

Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag (Human Rights and Crimes against Humanity)
Nicolas Werth
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0691130833

Book Description

During the spring of 1933, Stalin's police rounded up nearly one hundred thousand people as part of the Soviet regime's "cleansing" of Moscow and Leningrad and deported them to Siberia. Many of the victims were sent to labor camps, but ten thousand of them were dumped in a remote wasteland and left to fend for themselves. Cannibal Island reveals the shocking, grisly truth about their fate.

These people were abandoned on the island of Nazino without food or shelter. Left there to starve and to die, they eventually began to eat each other. Nicolas Werth, a French historian of the Soviet era, reconstructs their gruesome final days using rare archival material from deep inside the Stalinist vaults. Werth skillfully weaves this episode into a broader story about the Soviet frenzy in the 1930s to purge society of all those deemed to be unfit. For Stalin, these undesirables included criminals, opponents of forced collectivization, vagabonds, gypsies, even entire groups in Soviet society such as the "kulaks" and their families. Werth sets his story within the broader social and political context of the period, giving us for the first time a full picture of how Stalin's system of "special villages" worked, how hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens were moved about the country in wholesale mass transportations, and how this savage bureaucratic machinery functioned on the local, regional, and state levels.

Cannibal Island challenges us to confront unpleasant facts not only about Stalin's punitive social controls and his failed Soviet utopia, but about every generation's capacity for brutality--including our own.

Customer Reviews:

An interesting glimpse into the 'second' Gulag.......2007-08-14

As the author states this was the 'second' so called GULag, where people weren't sent to camps for hard labor but rather deported to various parts of the Soviet Union, such as this section of Siberia, to populate a place not even the Tsars, who tried for 350 years, could. The story in and of itself is quite fascinating and surprising in many respects. The bureaucracy and the obvious Soviet policies are who and what one could easily blame, but those on the bottom also took part in this disaster.

The numbers prepared for deportation were constantly being changed, the monetary funds allocated for these people as well as the horses, tools, and equipment they were to receive their new lives. Always rounding down since those in charge thought if anything extreme occurred those settlers already living there would lend a helping hand. I was surprised by the fact that to oversee this large landmass and its thousands of settlers the OGPU (precursor to the NKVD) had only 44 men, of whom many were clerks and of those clerks many came from the deportees themselves! At least one of their stories is recounted. Militia were also raised to help guard these prisoners and many times these men would let power go to their heads, they didn't want to be here and would beat prisoners and steal their food and/or clothing.

Many of those coming to this Island and other stops along the way were already suffering from the famine that was gripping a large portion of the Soviet Union, their eventual deaths could hardly be prevented. They were arrested usually because they had come to Moscow trying to escape the famine conditions of their homes. The quotas so many hear about when it comes to the Stalinist government are shown here. Aside from criminals, those already in prison, those labeled Kulaks, etc, were people who were simply snatched from train stations who were either passing through Moscow or had just come to Moscow with all their papers and documentation on them. Some Muscovites were snatched off the street because they didn't have their passports on them but had left them at home, no excuses would save them. It's hard to understand how something like that could happen, although it should be mentioned that a few weeks after these people had been deported their stories were checked and many were freed, but they were not yet allowed to return home!

What happens after these people are deported can be seen by the title of the book, there were cases of cannibalism and there emerges the story of a whole violent criminal class that had committed cannibalism in the past, all of this is recounted in the book. Many of those that committed such acts were not starving, which pointed to the fact that they had done this previously. Thus it was also concluded that such acts were not a sign of famine conditions. This book will go to show that the history of the Soviet Union cannot be viewed in black and white terms, there are many variables which need to be understood and these events have to be looked at on a case by case basis. Many of those who died were bullied and killed by the guards or the enormous criminal element they were with. How can one measure out an equal share of the blame to the government for putting them in such a position and to those who did the actual killings? Also interesting is the fact that previous Kulaks who were displaced were not subject to such conditions, they built their settlements and went on with their lives. But these men were used to these conditions and used to living on their own apparently, these elements from the urban centers of Moscow and Leningrad, combined with criminals, could not account for themselves like Kulaks and peasant farmers. An enormous number also tried to run away, while some might have been successful, too many died trying to cross the river Ob while others were undoubtedly lost in the Siberian wilderness. There are accounts of dozens if not hundreds of drowned bodies laying on the shore for kilometers on the opposite river bank of the Island. Just as an example, for the entire year of 1933, 367,457 people 'disappeared', of them 151,601 were recorded as dead and 215,856 as "fugitives". (pg. 181).

It is a fascinating look at a failed project, the inquiry launched into it after the majority of those deported died also shows that the government wouldn't simply stand by, someone had to pay. Those that eventually paid the price were the lower level functionaries, sentenced to various sentences of one to three years in camps. An excellent edition to literature on the "second Gulag" which few know about and an intriguing look into the Soviet Union of the 1930's.

Powerful. Incredible. The holocaust at Cannibal Island........2007-08-13

In the 1930's Stalin decided to liquidate the all kulaks, those peasants who owned at least a bit of property. After having their crops confiscated, peasants starved to death by the millions. Some suffered an even worse fate. They were sent to Siberia's Cannibal island.

Thousands of these people were dumped onto Nanzino island, a small island on the Ob river surrounded by the vast emptiness of Siberia. There was nothing to eat but a few bags of flour. Already, "a very large number of the deportees--at least a third--were so emaciated...they could no longer stand" (p 129).

Nanzino had nothing, no shelter, no other people to help, nothing edible. Nor was any help to come from the communist government. Russia was in turmoil. The vast numbers of starving farmers became roving bands of thieves. By 1930, western Siberia alone boasted some 880 such bands, and those were the ones the government acknowledged.

Nanzino quickly degenerated into Cannibal island. The strong were willing to do anything to survive, even if that meant eating the weak. One guard was courting a pretty young girl. He had to leave for a short time. "People caught the girl, tied her to a tree, cut off her breasts, her muscles, everything they could eat, everything, everything..." (p X1V).

There have been so many movies made from the holocaust of the Jews under the Nazis. I wonder why none have ever been made about the gulag.

The Turkish Turn In Contemporary German Literature: Toward A New Critical Grammar Of Migration (Studies in European Culture and History)

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The Turkish Turn In Contemporary German Literature: Toward A New Critical Grammar Of Migration (Studies in European Culture and History)
Leslie A. Adelson
Manufacturer: Palgrave MacMillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1403969132
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This study turns a refreshingly curious eye to complex cultural relations and literary novelties wrought by Turkish migration to Germany. At interpretive and historic crossroads involving dialogue and storytelling, genocide and taboo, and capital and labor in the 1990s, The Turkish Turn illuminates far-reaching imaginative effects that literatures of migration can engender. In critical conversation with Arjun Appadurai, Seyla Benhabib, Homi Bhabha, Rey Chow, Andreas Huyssen, Dominick LaCapra, Doris Sommer, and many others, Adelson probes history and aesthetics as surprisingly twinned indices of national and global transformation at the millennial turn.

Forced Migration and Scientific Change: Emigré German-Speaking Scientists and Scholars after 1933 (Publications of the German Historical Institute)

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Forced Migration and Scientific Change: Emigré German-Speaking Scientists and Scholars after 1933 (Publications of the German Historical Institute)

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0521497418

Book Description

The dismissal of civil servants on racist or political grounds in April 1933 marked the beginning of a massive, forced exodus of mainly Jewish scholars and scientists from Nazi Germany--a phenomenon unprecedented in the modern history of academic life. The essays in this volume examine whether that "exodus of reason" led to significant scientific change, and if so, how that change should be characterized. Written by a multidisciplinary group of German, British, and American scholars, the essays consider the natural and medical sciences, psychology, pedagogy and psychoanalysis as well as the social sciences.

Peoples and Empires: A Short History of European Migration, Exploration, and Conquest, from Greece to the Present (Modern Library Chronicles)

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World history
Masterful. This one's for the discerning reader
The structures of empires from Greece to present.
Of Warriors and Captive
A good intro to the history of empires

Peoples and Empires: A Short History of European Migration, Exploration, and Conquest, from Greece to the Present (Modern Library Chronicles)
Anthony Pagden
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812967615
Release Date: 2003-01-07

Book Description

Written by one of the world’s foremost historians of human migration, Peoples and Empires is the story of the great European empires—the Roman, the Spanish, the French, the British—and their colonies, and the back-and-forth between “us” and “them,” culture and nature, civilization and barbarism, the center and the periphery. It’s the history of how conquerors justified conquest, and how colonists and the colonized changed each other beyond all recognition.

Customer Reviews:

World history.......2005-12-03

Pagden is a professor at UCLA, and this is a sort book from the Modern Library Chronicles series, meant for the general reader or undergraduate class. The book covers the entire history of European conquest and empire, and the concomitant migration of peoples, from Greece to the 20th century. He shows the great continuity of thought and practice over these thousands of years regarding the motives for empire in Europe. One such concept is the idea of the civilizing mission of the European powers, "which relied upon a widely accepted vision of a universal human nature and a universal law of human evolution." (138) Another continuity was the belief that commerce led to peace and would bring an end to international conflict. His epilogue, written after 9-11, deals with the 'clash of civilizations' between Islam and the 'West' and look briefly at Islamic political theory and Muslim empires. This section is not as strong as the rest of the book, for here he seems to be charting ground he doesn't know as well, and though he does show some differences between Islamic Empires and Western, Christian Empires, it is obviously an afterthought that doesn't really fit in with his general argument. But on the whole I found this book greatly illuminating and well written, and plan on using it in my dissertation when I discuss whether the Soviet Union was an empire or not. I believe this book will help me substantiate my argument that yes, it was.

Masterful. This one's for the discerning reader.......2004-11-22

Anthropologists seem to have debated and for now settled that the human race originated somewhere in the interiors of Africa and over the next few millions of years trekked their way to the farthest inhabitable corners of earth, successfully transitioning from nomadic hunter-gatherers to civilized settlers. These initial migrations delivered the firm broad base for human race to thrive upon spawning off diverse civilizations and cultures in their wake, without which all of us would still be hanging around in the African wilderness and arguable picking berries and shrubs for a living.

However, in this rather long and protracted development, it's the proceedings over the last 3000 years or so that has dictated for better or for worse the transformation of the human society from relatively small and local settlements to large nation states and empires. Never before had we humans thought of ourselves in terms of an overriding racial, religious or national identity, or found it important to have a common and binding rules and regulations to govern such monolithic entities. With the notion of race and religion came theories of supremacy and the need for bringing more and more of the non-conformers into the benevolent folds of civilization. One recurring theme of these 3000 years has been the European White man's quest to explore and wherever possible subjugate other geographies. And this is the theme of Anthony Pagden's book tiled "Peoples and Empires".

The author sets forth the leitmotif succinctly in the introduction and proceeds to discuss the subject over 10 masterfully crafted chapters, each one dedicated to deliberations on one pivotal event in human history. Beginning with Alexander's conquests and successive Greeko-Roman efforts at empire building, Pagden examines the raison detre for European nation states and empires, explorations into the orient and the unknown world and the purported justifications offered for these enterprises by those who fuelled them and the indelible effect these had on the current world order. With due consideration perhaps to the massive scope of the subject matter and in view of the fact his primary audience would be the educated non-expert, the author (wisely) glosses over large tracts of the intervening years. Those pages thus saved are however effectively devoted to debate the socio-political aspects of these events. Pagden's is by far the best "Independent third party perspective" that was ever presented to me on tricky subjects such as racial supremacy theories, colonial excursions, and the strife between the worlds dominant religions. His arguments are convincing, pithy and supported by well-researched and documented references. He is nothing short of magisterial while dealing with the shameful scourge of slavery. The only shortcomings of the book seems to be the total eclipse of the eastern hemisphere in the narrative, the eastern hemisphere being broached upon just as a backdrop for the colonial enterprises. However, the author seems partly justified in this, considering that the Chinese, Indian and Far-eastern societies remained largely self-contained, inert and did little to significantly alter the political landscape beyond their own domestic boundaries. More so, since this is a book dedicated to the study of European migration exploration and conquest.

If you have been reasonably well initiated into world history and would appreciate someone presenting the whole conundrum in perspective, look no further and dig in for a rewarding time.

The structures of empires from Greece to present........2004-08-14

For such a difficult subject, Pagden does a good job of creating a readable book detailing the rise and fall of European Empires. From Alexander the Great, and the Roman Empire to the decline of the British Empire, Pagden details the rise of these empires and why they fell. In the end, it was the weakness of the colonizers along with the rise of nationalism which spurred the end of all empires. Pagden also details that some of the early empires were not racially divided, but with the rise of science and some of the new European nation states, racism along with slavery reared its ugly head. Commerce and the search for raw materials spurred on the exploitation of these colonies, and reduced the natives to subject status.
This is a nice theory book about why empires came about. It gives a lot of information in a few short pages.

Of Warriors and Captive.......2004-01-31

A concise, readable account, not just of empires and immigration patterns, but of the sweep of world history in general. I would be hard put to imagine how one could do as much as Mr. Pagden has done in as few pages. It includes a chronology of key events, and a description of central historical figures. This is a great book to read prior to or in conjunction with more in-depth surveys of world history. Pagden notes some watershed transformations including, (1) the empire of Charles V and its maritime reach, (2) the role of the Netherlands both within Europe and in the Asia-Pacific arena, (3) slavery and its long history from 1444 to approximately 1870, (4) the "scientific" justification for colonization and/or indirect rule from mid-18th to early 20th century, and (5) the current view of empires today, which negates the distinction, held somewhere in the West (and in China and Japan as well) since the Greek polis, of citizens and barbarians. Mr. Pagden has given us a fast, smooth and informative trip through a central facet of global, historical evolution.

A good intro to the history of empires.......2003-08-31

Writing the history of empires in about 200 pages is, to say the least, tricky. But Anthony Pagden, a professor at UCLA, aimed at doing just that and has ended up with a splendid overview of the history of empires.

The book starts with Alexander the Great and ends with the European Union and globalization, analyzing how the concept and practice of empire has evolved over the years. And, as is rarely the case with other narratives, the author discusses both European and non-European empires (to be more precise, he explains how non-European empires differed and why they do not deserve proportional mention).

Surely, the book's brevity can be irritating: often, the reader may seek additional details or even references. But, Professor Pagden has done a masterful job at writing succinctly and covering, with few words, elaborate topics without sacrificing depth or insight. I am not sure if it is possible to write a world history of this magnitude in such a short book -- but if such a history had to be written, the result should look much like this book.

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