Synopsis

Wealth and Power: Global Transformation and Destruction

The assumption of Wealth and Power is that today’s world is unlike anything that has ever gone before. Humans have created a unique civilisation; the more we understand where we have come from, the greater possibility we can appreciate and develop what we have inherited and create better future for our children.

Wealth and Power is a global history unlike any other, covering the period from 1492 to the present. It is a grand narrative with a focus on the growth and development in Europe at the expense of the rest of the world. In the process during this period Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain struggled for supremacy against each other both in Europe and in the rest of the world. Simultaneously each nation’s political economy was transformed by industrialisation. The first consequences of these struggles are the wars from the 1750s to 1815, and then again from 1914 to 1945.

• Part 1 is a single chapter that outlines the entire book.

• Part 2 of the book focuses first on colonial invasions and the struggles for wealth and details the consequences in the Americas, the West Indies then in India, Russia and China. Consequences include slavery, famines, and genocides.

• Part 3 focuses first on industrialisation itself and then on the struggles faced by ancient regimes, who were threatened by western colonialism.

• Part 4 deals only with the wars from 1914 to 1945: direct consequences of parts 2 and 3.

• Part 5 focuses on the period from 1945 to the present day. The intent here is to show what changed and what continued, so that the people of today understand the strange world we have all inherited.

Scope

The goal is to have this blog read by young people, either entering University or young 6th form adults. Once this blog is published as a book, it could be formatted for young people specifically focused by continent.

There is no global history designed for this age range.

Uniqueness

The only book I have found that comes anywhere near Wealth and Power is E.H Gombrich A Little History of the World and Gombrich in my opinion does not even begin to compare with Wealth and Power. I am making a claim for a uniqueness that my publisher will need to verify through peer review.

There is of course a plethora of excellent global histories available, but none written specifically for young people. And none of the global histories provides the framework I do, as they are written mainly from the perspectives of western success stories.

Methodology

Every subject of the book has a plethora of histories. This book breaks no new ground in terms of research. It does break new ground in terms of interpretation, and by bringing together a wide variety of histories to tell the story that explains how we have arrived at our present day world. Methodologically, it does not assume that our present world is the natural order of things as do the majority of historians from all political directions. Rather, it argues that our world is entirely extra ordinary, unlike any period of previous history, and that we need to tread with care, otherwise we may destroy everything we have created.

The book keeps the footnotes to the minimum but provides seminal works as ‘suggested reading’ for students and others to follow up on.

Sources

Every subject covered in the book makes reference to a wide range of historians and opinions.

Relevance

The book is intended to be 'relevant' to readers about many contemporary issues. Here I name a few: Racism, Antisemitism, Slavery, Colonialism, Religion, Inequality, World Poverty, World Wars and much more.

Scholarly Subjects of Relevance: Political Economic and Social History; Development Studies; Geopolitics. Geography, War, Sociology, Political studies.

Copyright. The copyright of this blog is as follows.  It is published Under the Creative Commons licence. If anyone wishes to use any of the writing for scholarly or educational purposes they may do so as long as they correctly attribute the author and the blog. If anyone wishes to use the material for commercial purpose of any kind, permission must be granted from the author.