The Spirit of Capitalism : Nationalism and Economic Growth

Rating:
Summary: A Tough Book
Review: As a past student of Boston University, let me say that Prof. Greenfeld is a scholar of the highest caliber. If conclusions from her review of history be difficult, even dubious, she is the first to review her work, admit ambiguity, and give to sociology nothing more than a stable investigation, employing the panorama of our traditions of thought. Conclusions will always be argued; Prof. Greenfeld however models technique. We can trust her books in a modern air where trust is a difficult friend. Her unrivalled unbias in her reading and writing deserve not a little honor.

Rating:
Summary: A Tough Book
Review: As a past student of Boston University, let me say that Prof. Greenfeld is a scholar of the highest caliber. If conclusions from her review of history be difficult, even dubious, she is the first to review her work, admit ambiguity, and give to sociology nothing more than a stable investigation, employing the panorama of our traditions of thought. Conclusions will always be argued; Prof. Greenfeld however models technique. We can trust her books in a modern air where trust is a difficult friend. Her unrivalled unbias in her reading and writing deserve not a little honor.

Rating:
Summary: Important work, now more than ever
Review: During the Clinton years, the foundation of American foreign policy seemed to be that economic growth was a natural phenomenon and that America needed only help other nations 'liberate' their markets. We did not take seriously enough the idea that economic growth is rooted in particular cultural norms, and that 'liberalization' without those norms would frequently lead to nothing but chaos and deep-seated anti-American resentment.

There is no justification for the attacks of September 11th, but one could argue that, under Clinton, America did not do enough to demonstrate that we stand for political as well as economic reform. This book, which I have read in manuscript form, is an important intellectual rebuttal to ideas that have tarnished America's name abroad.

Rating:
Summary: Correcting misconceptions
Review: I have read an advance copy of this book, and feel obliged to comment on the erroneous PUBLISHERS WEEKLY review, found in the editorial reviews section of this page. It is apparent that the author of that review did not actually read the book.

The first sentence of the review states as fact a false position, that "beginning in 15th-century northern Europe, unprecedented economic growth spread throughout the world, bringing with it nationalism, technological progress and rationalism in government, religion, and justice, as well as eradication of traditional cultures, environmental damage, imperialism, and wars of unparalleled destructiveness." The book being reviewed argues that it was nationalism which caused the reorientation of the economy towards sustained economic growth. (Nationalism was the motive force behind modern capitalism.) The reviewer is putting the cart before the horse. The opening sentence is a statement of the reviewer's own position, and to contrast it with the central thesis of the book being reviewed (without evidence or counterargument of any kind) was in poor taste. But this is not the worst.

The reviewer asserts that the author "eschews both the historian's careful study of primary sources and the economist's insistence on rigorously testable models." The reviewer claims that instead Greenfeld relies on excerpts from secondary sources. This is plainly false. The majority of the book's evidence is primary-source material, all meticulously documented in the notes, which the reviewer apparently did not have time to read. Indeed, like the author's previous work, NATIONALISM: FIVE ROADS TO MODERNITY, this book is interesting and convincing, in part, because of the quantity and detail of empirical evidence it provides.

Third, the reviewer states that, allegedly according to the author, the 6 cases treated (England, Holland, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States) are unrelated. This is also, quite simply, false. The author draws tight connections between these cases. Indeed, she believes that nationalism (and it's refraction in the economic sphere) is fundamentally an idea. This idea began in one place (England) and was exported to the other cases under consideration (minus the Netherlands, where impressive early economic growth was both not sustained and not caused by nationalism), though it took very different forms in each. Given that so much of the story in each case is of the importation of the idea of the nation, it's reception and transformation, and it's impact upon the economic orientations of the social actors in each nation, it is absurd to claim that these cases are unrelated.

Finally, the reviewer makes the bizarre observation that this book is a "criticism of all aspects of the modern world" which will only have appeal to disgruntled readers. Frankly, I cannot imagine how on earth the reviewer got this impression. The book is not a critique of modernity, it does not issue value-judgements, and it most certainly does not condemn modern diet, work habits, and culture, as the reviewer would have us believe.

This is an excellent book. There is none other like it on the subject, both in terms of theoretical scope and detailed historical evidence. It is a captivating story, written in elegant prose. It should be of interest to economists, historians, political scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and anyone who wants to understand the world in which we live.