{"product_id":"the-eurasian-miracle-hardback-9780745647937","title":"The Eurasian Miracle (Hardback) 9780745647937","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eThe Eurasian Miracle\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eJack Goody (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780745647937, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 30 October 2009\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e200 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.4 x 14.5 x 1.9 cm, 0.336 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"In this brief but rich essay, continuing and amplifying the argument he has presented in The Theft of History and elsewhere, Jack Goody drives one more nail into the coffin of Western ethnocentrism.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003ePeter Burke, University of Cambridge\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\"The author is a venerable national treasure. In this essay, he demonstrates undiminished powers - revisiting the folly of Eurocentrism, which has been the major theme of his work, and proposing a new way of understanding it.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eFelipe Fernandez-Armesto, University of Notre Dame\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eThe idea of long-term European dominance is characteristic of most evolutionary theories of human culture and society in the nineteenth century. It was commonly believed that there was a natural progression from Antiquity through Feudalism to Capitalism which could not have taken place elsewhere. Today there are many who still believe that this progression was part of a European miracle that underlay the rise to global supremacy of the West.  \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this short book Jack Goody systematically dismantles this Eurocentric view of the world. He argues that we need to look, not for a European miracle, but rather for a Eurasian miracle that went back to the Urban Revolution of the Bronze Age, that affected the Near East, India and China well before Europe and that was much advanced by the adoption of writing. Under these conditions we find a long-term exchange of information between East and West, and the dominance of one followed by the dominance of the other - in other words, alternation rather than dominance. There were measures during the Renaissance in Europe that made for continuous growth, especially the secularization of learning, but it appears that the period of Western supremacy is now coming to an end and that we are about to experience a further alternation in favour of the East.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1 Alternation or supremacy? 1\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 Why European and not Eurasian? 4\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e3 Domestic aspects of the ‘miracle’ 20\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4 Eurasia and the Bronze Age 41\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e5 Merchants and their role in alternation 57\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6 Merchant wealth and puritanical asceticism 66\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e7 Towards a knowledge society 79\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e8 The temporary advantage in alternation of the post-Renaissance west 94\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e9 Alternation in Eurasia 106\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAppendix 1 Arguments of the Europeanists 115\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAppendix 2 Water in east and west 127\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes 131\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eReferences 139\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndex 151\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Archaeology [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Archaeology\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Archaeology%20%5BHD%5D%22\"\u003eHD\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52407316939032,"sku":"9780745647937","price":42.35,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9780745647937.jpg?v=1784161175","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-eurasian-miracle-hardback-9780745647937","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}