The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy (Princeton Classics)

Review Co-Winner of the 2001 Book Prize, World History AssociationExhaustively researched and brilliantly argued. . . . Suffice it to say that The Great Divergence is undoubtedly one of the most sophisticated and significant pieces of cliometric scholarship to be published of late, especially in the field of world history.---Edward R. Slack, Jr., Journal of World HistoryOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2000A profoundly though-provoking book which will change the terms of the debate about the origins of capitalism, the rise of the West and the fall of the East.---Jack Goody, Times Higher Education Supplement-- "Choice"The vast international disparity in incomes and standards of living between Western Europe and its offshoots on the one hand, and most of Asia, Africa, and Latin America on the other, is a striking feature of the modern world. Pomeranz's study is an important addition to the literature that challenges elements of every major interpretation of the European take-off.-- "Choice"This book is very important and will have to be taken seriously by anyone who thinks that explaining the Industrial Revolution . . . is crucial to our understanding of the modern world. . . . [A] book so rich that fresh insights emerge from virtually every page.---Robert B. Marks, American Historical ReviewThis book makes, bar none, the biggest and most important contribution to our new understanding of the causes and mechanisms that brought about the great divergence' between the West and the rest of China in particular. . . . An entirely new and refreshing departure. Although he makes new comparisons between Europe, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, Pomeranz also connects all these and more in a bold new sweep that should immediately make all previous and most contemporary related work obsolescent.---Andre Gunde Frank, Journal of Asian Studies-- "Choice"Winner of the 2000 John K. Fairbank Prize, American Historical Association-- "Choice" Product Description A landmark comparative history of Europe and China that examines why the Industrial Revolution emerged in the WestThe Great Divergence sheds light on one of the great questions of history: Why did sustained industrial growth begin in Northwest Europe? Historian Kenneth Pomeranz shows that as recently as 1750, life expectancy, consumption, and product and factor markets were comparable in Europe and East Asia. Moreover, key regions in China and Japan were no worse off ecologically than those in Western Europe, with each region facing corresponding shortages of land-intensive products. Pomeranz’s comparative lens reveals the two critical factors resulting in Europe's nineteenth-century divergence―the fortunate location of coal and access to trade with the New World. As East Asia’s economy stagnated, Europe narrowly escaped the same fate largely due to favorable resource stocks from underground and overseas. This Princeton Classics edition includes a preface from the author and makes a powerful historical work available to new readers. Review "A profoundly thought-provoking book."―Jack Goody, Times Higher Education Supplement"The biggest and most important contribution to our new understanding of the causes and mechanisms that brought about the great divergence between the West and the rest."―Andre Gunder Frank, Journal of Asian Studies"So rich that fresh insights emerge from virtually every page."―Robert B. Marks, American Historical Review"Exhaustively researched and brilliantly argued."―Edward R. Slack Jr., Journal of World History From the Back Cover "Pomeranz uses that European invention--economics--to overturn Eurocentrism, establishing beyond cavil a New Fact in our world. Never again will Europeans imagine they stood alone in the doorway of economic growth. Pomeranz and his colleagues in the new sinology have reintroduced the Central Kingdom and its stunning historical sources, and Pomeranz has written the one essential book."--Dei