Origins of the Modern World
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Origins of the Modern World
The book is focused on providing detailed information concerning the global and ecological aspects that lead to the conception of the modern world in a form of narration. The book is engages the reader by narrating about the origins of the modern day world. The events that marked the origin of this world is the rise of the west. However, the book focuses on other parts such Asia, Africa and the new world at large that have played major roles in contributing to modernization. The indicators used by Robert Marks to measure globalization are industries, the state of the nation and the warfare that exists between interstates, the gap that demarcates the richest and poverty stricken parts of the world which is quite contradictory of the biological reasons used to explain the origins. The author carefully explains the theory by offering broad comparisons of the established worlds such as India, china and Europe. He further elaborated on the techniques used by England that enable it to circumvent the ecological limitations that were prevalent in the 18th century.
The cohesiveness of different parts of the world has been solidified by the unification of natural and human forces. The saga that is brought forth by the new edition of the book explains how the United States has gained power over the world economy in the twentieth century becoming the world power that it is today. Mark posits the drastic changes that have occurred in the relationship between the humans and their environment has cast a shadow over the economic and political and economic achievements over the past. The information provided by this literal works is used a tool by students. Both of these two small books are remarkable the content they possess and for what they accomplish. Robert Marks utilizes a narrower perspective dating back from 1400 in his effort to elaborate the Origins of the Modern World. He further expounds on the ideas brought forth by Cowen as he narrates on the rise of the west. The four focal points used by Cowen form the basis on which Mark uses in his book. However, he makes great assumption about the unavoidable dominance of the western leadership. Nation states and global capitalism are the two forces that had emerged in the fourteenth century. In the dilemma created by Cowen, these two aspects were closely related which have played a great part in drawing the national government to globalization. The book can be used as a tool by both undergraduate and graduate students as a historical source. The concepts drawn from this book offer opportunities that are still trapped in the rigid territories depicted on in the book. The time span which the events are centered on is from 1400 until 1850 which marked the beginning of the international trade networks and development of empires and dynasties.
The author interlinks these concepts to elaborate on the ever growing gap between the worlds nations involved in the trade networks. The sources that are cited in this book provide concise information in the classroom context. In my opinion the book mainly focuses on the expansion of the Asian continent which is the followed by the European states, this clearly shows that the American and African continents are not directly involved in the process of developing a modern world. The introduction of the book contains directions from the author to the writer in the non European study, and carefully creates a more dynamic outlook on other continents. The introductory part contains important points placing the focus on the world trade.
In the proceeding topics, he gives meaning to the ancient biological administration and provides clues on how the biological interaction between states in trade between the 16th century. Three centuries later, the author shows how the dependency shifts from the reliance of natural resources to trade movements that were widespread globally. This development led to more use of non renewable resources in the manufacture of products which lead to the eradication of major natural resources. The author convincingly explains the environmental impacts the trade that linked China, Europe and India had on the environment. Following the description of the industrial development in China, he goes further to summarizing the trade that existed across the Indian Ocean in the 15th century. The Portuguese responsible for the trade movement across the Indian Ocean are portrayed as the masters in the transactions that occurred in this century. Despite the fact that the Portuguese lacked any products or goods which could be used as trading material between them and the Asian continent, they applied force to resolve the difficulty faced in establishing a trade network. The series of actions that ensued prior to the inception of the Indian Ocean trade networks enabled the Portuguese to gain control over it. This characteristic was afterwards associated with the European continent as a means of initiating trade.
The weakness that presented is not profound. The flawed aspect in this book is that it fails to attribute the development of the modern world to the American and African continents. However, this is reparable as more information can be added on how they contributed to the modernization of the world. The next weakness that is evident from the text is the assumption made that America did not contribute in the manufacturing of the goods used in the trade. America is seen as a passive continent that failed to participate directly in the world trade that led to the eventual development of the modern world as we know it today. In totality, the book is a great read and is quite captivating. It is recommended for as an academic source for ay history student.