Globalization And Global History

The premise of this collection is that the processes of globalization have been with us, at a minimum, since the 16th century connection of the Americas to Afro-Eurasia and that in order to begin to understand these processes, i.e. to historicize globalization, it is necessary to globalize history. Exactly how to do this is collectively left unsettled in the 13 papers presented by Gills (international politics, U. of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) and Thompson (political science, U. of Indiana, UK), even if individual authors make their theoretical and methodological preferences known. Incorporating perspectives from economic history, archaeology, sociology, and political science, the contributions move from abstract arguments about globalization to more specific treatments of observed global history touching upon such topics as ancient Rome as a world city, civilizing processes and international societies, growth and decline phases in ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian world-systems, Euro-American contact in 1571 as the opening date of globalization, and the role of colonies in a globalizing economy from 1815 to 1948. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Barry K. Gills is Reader in International Politics at the University of Newcastle, UK and Director of the Globalization Research Center at the University of Hawaii, USA. William R. Thompson is Rogers Professor of Political Science at the University of Indiana, USA.