Fuga dall'impero. La caduta di Roma e le origini della prosperità occidentale

I initially expected 'Escape from Rome' to offer yet-another account on the collapse of the Roman Empire, only this time with a title and cover in clever homage to John Carpenter's sci-fi classic 'Escape from New York.' To my surprise and sublime delight, Prof. Walter Scheidel of Stanford University Leggi tutto

This book examines what it refers to as “two great divergences” in the history of civilization; (1) Why did the Roman Empire fail to survive while the Chinese Empire—and similar empires in other regions—continued to survive in various forms, and (2) Why did the scientific revolution and modern econo Leggi tutto

the Roman empire made modern development possible by going away and never coming back Fascinating stuff but I found the counterfactual arguments really aggravating because I tend to switch back and forth from being a determinist (it could only have happened this way) and whatever you call the opposit Leggi tutto

Escape from Rome has to be one of the most ambitious books ever written. Erudite and exhilarating, it guides the reader through 3000 years of world history, all to spotlight what the author, Walter Scheidel, posits to be the (very) long road to prosperity. Scheidel has little to say on the debate ab Leggi tutto

Hmmm...I have to think about this one a bit, but I will take an initial stab at a review. This is a really good book on European macro-history, with a strong economic flavor. It tells a broad and really abstract/general story that ties together a lot. I am sure some do not like this sort of exercise. Leggi tutto

Many years ago my medieval history lecturer at university would preface any parts of his lectures on economic history with a quip like "and now for the boring-but-actually-most-important bits". Scheidel's book is heavily focused on economics (among many other things) because when it comes to the que Leggi tutto

Todella raskasta luettava – kuten ehkä lukemisen kestosta voi päätellä – mutta erittäin kutkuttava ja kattavasti perusteltu hypoteesi modernin maailman ja teollisen vallankumouksen synnystä. Kenties paras asia Roomassa olikin sen tuhoutuminen, se loi olosuhteet moninapaiselle fragmentaatiolle ja kil Leggi tutto

Some fun meta-analysis in this book. Most of it will seem familiar if you've read much European history. But the author does a good job of zeroing in on the main factor that set Western Europe on the path to modernity: Ceaseless warfare after the fall of the Roman Empire. As the author notes, "Human Leggi tutto

What’s an historian to do when everything about a topic has already been written? Write about what didn’t happen! That’s a rather cheeky way to introduce what’s really a tour de force of world history by Stanford University classics professor Walter Scheidel in Escape from Rome. He aims to answer th Leggi tutto