How Europe Made the Modern World - by Jonathan Daly (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

One thousand years ago, a traveler to Baghdad or the Chinese capital Kaifeng would have discovered a vast and flourishing city of broad streets, spacious gardens, and sophisticated urban amenities; meanwhile, Paris, Rome, and London were cramped and unhygienic collections of villages, and Europe was a backwater. How, then, did it rise to world preeminence over the next several centuries? This is the central historical conundrum of modern times.

How Europe Made the Modern World draws upon the latest scholarship dealing with the various aspects of the West's divergence, including geography, demography, technology, culture, institutions, science and economics. It avoids the twin dangers of Eurocentrism and anti-Westernism, strongly emphasizing the contributions of other cultures of the world to the West's rise while rejecting the claim that there was nothing distinctive about Europe in the premodern period. Daly provides a concise summary of the debate from both sides, whilst also presenting his own provocative arguments.

Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, and including maps and images to illuminate key evidence, this book will inspire students to think critically and engage in debates rather than accepting a single narrative of the rise of the West. It is an ideal primer for students studying Western Civilization and World History courses.

Review Quotes

In this fascinating overview, Daly argues that Europe's economic rise did not depend on a geographic accident, such as having abundant coal beneath the ground. It depended instead on the ability of Europeans to create institutions that allowed them to unleash their creative potential. This book is an excellent introduction to the subject.
David Stasavage, Julius Silver Professor, New York University, USA

In this slim but engaging and deeply informed volume, Daly skillfully summarizes the complex and controversial literature on the role of Europe in the Great Enrichment. His treatment is without exception balanced and judicious, with a welcome emphasis on the centrality of culture and institutions in explaining modern economic growth.
Joel Mokyr, Robert H. Strotz Professor of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Economics and History, Northwestern University, USA

Unlike most works by economic historians, this book tackles the Great Divergence from what Karl Marx would call the 'super-structure' of civilisations rather than 'material foundation' of them. This change in the reference system allows the author to view the divergence in very different light: rule of law, legal rights, knowledge accumulation and diffusion which permitted Western Europe to develop better than other parts of Eurasia. The reader will find a logically constant argument from the beginning to the end despite a degree of teleology which cannot be fully proved.
Kent Deng, Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics, UK

About the Author

Jonathan Daly is Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. He is the author is Historians Debate the Rise of the West (2015) and The Rise of Western Power: A Comparative History of Western Civilization (2014).