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Summary: The Book tells the truth
Review: Sad as it is, I am not amazed that such a thoroughly sensible work receives hatefilled comments from some readers. I know from experience what these critics really stand for. In Germany, most "opinion makers" from the whole political spectrum would have no problem to agree with their tired old anti-western message. Many (not all) critics denounce Landes simply for having the wrong ideology, while I am grateful that he has none. There are facts of history and economics...even if you choke on them, they won't go away if you spit them out.
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Summary: Amazing, a great read - but meandering
Review: The interesting and illustrative facts crammed into this book will astound you. It will undoubtedly become the leading book in its field. It puts the issue to rest once and for all that the society of the West and its way of doing business are superior to all others. Worth every penny. BUT, this book is hopelessly unorganized. Much too much jumping around. The editor did not do a very good job of molding the genius of the author into a more progressive read.
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Summary: Why some have succeeded and others haven't
Review: David Landes has written an essential historical analysis of the origins of the modern world economy. He has set out to answer an age-old question: Why is it that some societies have achieved economic success and others haven't? It is a question that I have discussed with my students for many years in courses on international politics and political economy. Landes has an explanation which he presents in an erudite and accessable manner that I personally found compelling. Unlike some, I did take the book to the beach because I could not put it down. I am fascinated by the vitriol that it has attracted from the politically correct crowd. It says more about them than about the book. In reading through the comments I wondered how many of them actually read the book. If they have read it, I wonder how they would answer the question Landes is addressing. (The depredations of Western imperialism--bad as they were will not suffice.) Thus, how to explain the success of the Asian tigers and the failure of the Arab regimes? Landes will provide you with a starting point, but you will have to come to the analysis without an ideological axe to grind. Well worth your time.
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Summary: See the Left snarl; only the truth touches such nerves
Review: Landes takes on a difficult task. His perspective is conceptual, which is not intelligible (or visible) to the relational Left. His theme that conceptuality facilitates wealth production, and that there are cultural components (and perhaps genetic components as well) to such conceptuality is of course an anethma to politically correct indoctrinates. And in predictable moral inversion, such idealogy-codependents attack him using the ideology club. It is interesting to note that Landes is not a conservative politically and does not discuss politics. His prose is very good, a dry subject was made interesting to me. It is more history than economics but that is the one thing that can save economics from the dismal stereotype. Those who view the world through ideas and concepts will enjoy the book. Those who are insecure in such a world will hold it in contempt as you see from the reviews. Ideas and concepts in general are a threat to relationships these people need to secure their sanity. They hate all the David Landes' of the world.
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Summary: Much ado about nothing
Review: Being honest, Mr Landes may have a lot to say about Western Calvinist Anglo-Saxon culture/history, a lot to say about England and New England, and many Anglo-Saxon Calvinist citizens of Europe and the US might even adore the reading of this book. But what about the rest of the world? For a scholar who was trying to make World History, his attempt seems to miss the point and to be completely inefficient. Talking about efficiency, by the way, it is difficult to imagine this book as an efficient one. A Professor of Harvard who spends 650 pages only to claim the superiority of European and the US over all the rest of the world... He talks a lot, no doubt about, but talks a lot about one and only one subject: the European, more precisely, the Englishman! Maybe he could have saved us from a lot of useless quotations -- he even quoted the American Airlines magazine in a footnote! Not what we could exactly called scientific... The book lacks imagination and creativity, even some knowledge about the changes the world has been going through (as mentioned by someone here, he never talks about the IT revolution or any new concept), and is not able to escape from common sense (which he claims as the Real Truth, forgotten by the new scholars). Mr Landes tried to affirm (maybe defend) the superior position of Europe and the US (Japan also, but Japan is a mistery to him, as he says...), but he was not able to bring any new idea to the discussion. He is a hostage of his own prejudices. It doesn't matter how thick his book is. It will only and always be too much ado about nothing... but the old pride of the Calvinist, at Harvard, in Cambridge, in New England, in the United States, as a descendent of generations of well-suceeded English merchants...
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Summary: simply bad!
Review: Poor background, essentially not more than a naive apology. (Ever heard of mauvaise foi?)
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Summary: will be a very influential book in regional economics
Review: very imaginative, exceptionally well written has influenced my thinking about differences inwealth and reagions profoundly
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Summary: Lacking vision, intriguing facts
Review: In addressing the future Landers does not give enough emphases to; 1. The advent of computers / automation as pertains to human obsolescence, compounded by the dual problem of job exportation from west to east and job loss trough substitution of humans by machines. 2. The future impact of Russia and China which can not but destabilize the world economically, socially, and politically. 3. The Human factor, i.e. The impact of Nonmarket ideals and ideological forces, the capacity of Humans to transcend the rule of the market and become governed by Conscience and Spirit
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Summary: An amaizingly poor historic review
Review: History analysis will always require knowledge, basic fairness and certain degree of logic, to properly dig into all the conflicting sources. Mr Landes may well have the very first of all these basic points, so as some fairness to his account of history, if just for a few parts of his long book. On the third one, we can only wonder how can he possibly assume as certain, facts based on such thin historical support, to say the least. The whole book seems filled with an amaizingly unsupported conclusions, varnished with a coat of historic references. Regretably, !84 pages! of bibliography does not necessary add to some historic logic. Is not that WASP thinking is wrong. It's the need to force conclusions, 500 pages filled with them, which may well be.
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Summary: Well-written and sensible!
Review: This book obviously irritates liberal intellectuals who blame European imperialism for the sins of the world. Landes intelligently and sensibly explains many of the factors behind the intellectual and economic growth of nations. He justly blames poor countries for having low cultural capital (intellect/values). A simple corroboration of Landes' view is a recently published World Bank study that shows economic support to countries with misguided values fails miserably. Countries with good policies and infrastructures that support growth are greatly enhanced by World Bank support.
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