Puritan vs. Prussian vs. Parochial. Prussian wins. Also, high schools weren’t really a thing before 1900.
Tag: Modern
Book Review of SEEING LIKE A STATE by James C. Scott (1998)
Seeing Like A State is the best political book I have ever read. I have long had tendencies along these lines, but could never put them into words. Scott expresses himself beautifully and cites numerous examples.
Book Review of THE GREAT SEA by David Abulafia (2014)
Abulafia has undertaken an extremely ambitious project: to write a summary of the entire history of the Mediterranean, from the first people to cross its waters all the way to today. He mostly succeeds, which makes this a very impressive book.
Book Review of CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY by Thomas Piketty (2012)
Piketty has written a data-driven book on economic history, which is accessible to a broad audience. The book is full of graphs (even more so than this review) and involves calculations and equations in its arguments. In my opinion, this makes it a better work of scholarship than most other books about history. As with most (all?) books on economics, there is a political bias. What bias? Well, this is a book with the word ‘Capital’ written in big red letters across the cover. It has been politically influential. Piketty convinced Elizabeth Warren to advocate for a wealth tax. The power of capital, relative to income, fell dramatically during the World Wars and Great Depression. Since then, capital has been making a comeback. Piketty expects this trend to continue. The growth of capital is inherently faster than the growth of income in a capitalist society, except during major crises like World Wars. To counteract this, Piketty proposes a global tax on wealth.