歷史
Rage for Order 豆瓣
作者:
Lauren Benton
/
Lisa Ford
Harvard University Press
2016
- 10
International law burst on the scene as a new field in the late nineteenth century. Where did it come from? Rage for Order finds the origins of international law in empires—especially in the British Empire’s sprawling efforts to refashion the imperial constitution and use it to order the world in the early part of that century.
Lauren Benton and Lisa Ford uncover the lost history of Britain’s global empire of law in colonial conflicts and bureaucratic dispatches rather than legal treatises and case law. Tracing constitutional politics around the world, Rage for Order shows that attempts to refashion the British imperial constitution touched on all the controversial issues of the day, from slavery to revolution. Scandals in turbulent colonies targeted petty despots and augmented the power of the Crown to intervene in the administration of justice. Campaigns to police piracy and slave trading linked British interests to the stability of politically fragmented regions. Dull bureaucrats dominated legal reform, but they did not act in isolation. Indigenous peoples, slaves, convicts, merchants, and sailors all scrambled to play a part in reordering the empire and the world beyond it. Yet, through it all, legal reform focused on promoting order, not advancing human rights or charting liberalism.
Rage for Order maps a formative phase in world history when imperial, not international, law anchored visions of global order. This sweeping story changes the way we think about the legacy of the British Empire and the meaning of international law today.
Lauren Benton and Lisa Ford uncover the lost history of Britain’s global empire of law in colonial conflicts and bureaucratic dispatches rather than legal treatises and case law. Tracing constitutional politics around the world, Rage for Order shows that attempts to refashion the British imperial constitution touched on all the controversial issues of the day, from slavery to revolution. Scandals in turbulent colonies targeted petty despots and augmented the power of the Crown to intervene in the administration of justice. Campaigns to police piracy and slave trading linked British interests to the stability of politically fragmented regions. Dull bureaucrats dominated legal reform, but they did not act in isolation. Indigenous peoples, slaves, convicts, merchants, and sailors all scrambled to play a part in reordering the empire and the world beyond it. Yet, through it all, legal reform focused on promoting order, not advancing human rights or charting liberalism.
Rage for Order maps a formative phase in world history when imperial, not international, law anchored visions of global order. This sweeping story changes the way we think about the legacy of the British Empire and the meaning of international law today.
Admirals Goodreads 豆瓣
作者:
Andrew Lambert
Faber & Faber
2009
- 7
The true story of how Britain's maritime power helped gain this country unparalleled dominance of the world's economy, <i>Admirals </i>celebrates the rare talents of the men who shaped the most successful fighting force in world history. Told through the lives and battles of eleven of our most remarkable admirals - men such as James II and Robert Blake - Andrew Lambert's book stretches from the Spanish Armada to the Second World War, culminating with the spirit which led Andrew Browne Cunningham famously to declare, when the army feared he would lose too many ships, 'it takes three years to build a ship; it takes three centuries to build a tradition.'
法兰西世界史 豆瓣
Histoire mondiale de la France
作者:
(法) 帕特里克·布琼 编
译者:
张新木 主译
/
徐文婷 唐璐华 金正麒 陈佩华
上海教育出版社
2018
由法兰西公学院教授帕特里克•布琼主编,来自法国国家科学研究院、法国高等社会科学研究院、巴黎政治学院、国家档案馆等学术机构的122位历史教授和研究员参 与创作。这部著作的特别之处在于,它不是传统的法国史,也不是传统的世界史,而是“以世界史为资料解释的法国史”。作者们以时间为线索(从史前至2015年),在政治、文学、医学、艺术、教育等多个领域,摘选重要的历史事件和现象,论述了法国与世界之间的相互影响及联系。法国与世界在这部书中自然交融,这在全世界的历史类书籍中都属于一种有趣的创新。
Heretics! 豆瓣 谷歌图书
作者:
Steven Nadler
/
Ben Nadler
Princeton University Press
2017
- 5
"Bring[s] both entertainment and enlightenment to the subject of how modern philosophical thought challenged the church's doctrine on the relationship between God and man and led to democratic challenges to monarchy and the divine right of kings... Nimbly advance[s] through a little more than a century in fewer than 200 pages, presenting a primer that can instruct those new to the period while serving as a refresher for readers who have forgotten what they studied in history and philosophy."--Kirkus "A quick introduction to the basic figures and concepts of modern philosophy as it was developed in the 17th century. Rene Descartes, Francis Bacon, Baruch Spinoza, and other philosophers pop up to discuss, and sometimes argue, about the nature of matter, the existence of God, mind-body dualism, the structure of society, and even the existence of knowledge itself. The authors use quotes from the philosophers themselves and quickly place them in historical context, and the lively illustrations keep the narrative from getting bogged down."--Brigid Alverson, School Library Journal "Being a philosopher in the 17th century was a dangerous career choice. At odds with the Catholic church, Western philosophy found itself in a precarious position that would sometimes end in violence. Written by the father-son team Steven and Ben Nadler, the comic book aims to turn the trials of early scientific thought into a riveting graphic narrative. With the help of colorful illustrations and jokes, the duo is able to make complicated philosophical ideas easier to digest for a larger group of readers as well as offer up plenty of drama."--Mental Floss
Technology 豆瓣
作者:
Daniel R. Headrick
Oxford University Press
2009
- 4
Today technology has created a world of dazzling progress, growing disparities of wealth and poverty, and looming threats to the environment. Technology: A World History offers an illuminating backdrop to our present moment--a brilliant history of invention around the globe. Historian Daniel R. Headrick ranges from the Stone Age and the beginnings of agriculture to the Industrial Revolution and the electronic revolution of the recent past. In tracing the growing power of humans over nature through increasingly powerful innovations, he compares the evolution of technology in different parts of the world, providing a much broader account than is found in other histories of technology. We also discover how small changes sometimes have dramatic results--how, for instance, the stirrup revolutionized war and gave the Mongols a deadly advantage over the Chinese. And how the nailed horseshoe was a pivotal breakthrough for western farmers. Enlivened with many illustrations, Technology offers a fascinating look at the spread of inventions around the world, both as boons for humanity and as weapons of destruction.
概念的历史分量 豆瓣
作者:
方维规
北京大学出版社
2019
- 4
与所有史论一样,概念史也需要假设,没有假设便无论点可言。真正的概念史从来不只是概念的历史。根究概念嬗变而外,更在于提炼历史语义的内在结构;除了透过语境来理解文本,更重要的是考证和解析那些富有“整合力”的特定概念。这就是本书取名《概念的历史分量》的用意所在。概念史的主要特色之一,就是挖掘那些弃之则无法经验的概念,或曰不可替代的基本概念(科塞雷克语)。
近代以降,中国不断努力翻译介绍一种截然不同的、西方的知识文化体系,并试图把西方的科学文化与中国的传统文化结合起来。现代汉语的很多重要词汇和概念,均产生于19世纪下半叶和20世纪初。本书对中国近现代史中的一些重要概念即“大概念”的探究,例如对近现代中国“文明”“文化”观的探讨,对“民族”及相关核心概念的通考,对“经济”译名的溯源,对“知识分子”概念的辨析……都试图用“概念史”方法进行详实的知识考古,以结构性的目光来理解近代历史演进的内在脉络。
近代以降,中国不断努力翻译介绍一种截然不同的、西方的知识文化体系,并试图把西方的科学文化与中国的传统文化结合起来。现代汉语的很多重要词汇和概念,均产生于19世纪下半叶和20世纪初。本书对中国近现代史中的一些重要概念即“大概念”的探究,例如对近现代中国“文明”“文化”观的探讨,对“民族”及相关核心概念的通考,对“经济”译名的溯源,对“知识分子”概念的辨析……都试图用“概念史”方法进行详实的知识考古,以结构性的目光来理解近代历史演进的内在脉络。
The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East 豆瓣 Goodreads
作者:
Benjamin Isaac
Oxford University Press
1994
- 2
其它标题:
The Limits of Empire
For more than seven centuries most of the Near East was part of the Roman empire. Yet no work exists which explores the means by which an ancient power originating in the western Mediterranean could control such a vast and distant region. What was the impact of the army presence on the population of the provinces? How did Rome respond to the challenge posed by the desert and its nomadic population? Isaac here offers answers to these questions in the first comprehensive treatment of the Roman military presence in the Near East. Using both well-known and neglected sources, he reassesses the means by which Rome achieved and maintained its control over the region. His study, now revised and updated to reflect recent research findings, casts new light on an important issue which has far-reaching implications for the understanding of ancient and modern imperialism.
Metaphors of Memory 豆瓣
作者:
Douwe Draaisma
译者:
Paul Vincent
Cambridge University Press
2001
- 1
What is memory? It is at the same time ephemeral, unreliable and essential to everything we do. Without memory we lose our sense of identity, reasoning, even our ability to perform simple physical tasks. Yet it is also elusive and difficult to define, and throughout the ages philosophers and psychologists have used metaphors as a way of understanding it. First published in 2000, this fascinating book takes the reader on a guided tour of these metaphors of memory from ancient times to the present day. Crossing continents and disciplines, it provides a compelling history of ideas about the mind by exploring the way these metaphors have been used - metaphors often derived from the techniques and instruments developed over the years to store information, ranging from wax tablets and books to photography, computers and even the hologram. Accessible and thought-provoking, this book should be read by anyone who is interested in memory and the mind.
A World Without Time 豆瓣
作者:
Palle Yourgrau
Perseus Books Group
2006
- 3
"[Yourgrau] presents the nature of an intimate friendship between two magnificent thinkers and the nature of Godel's work, which inspired Einstein but is now lost in obscurity." (Deseret Morning News)
In 1942, the logician Kurt Godel and Albert Einstein became close friends; they walked to and from their offices every day, exchanging ideas about science, philosophy, politics, and the lost world of German science. By 1949, Godel had produced a remarkable proof: In any universe described by the Theory of Relativity, time cannot exist. Einstein endorsed this result reluctantly but he could find no way to refute it, since then, neither has anyone else. Yet cosmologists and philosophers alike have proceeded as if this discovery was never made. In A World Without Time, Palle Yourgrau sets out to restore Godel to his rightful place in history, telling the story of two magnificent minds put on the shelf by the scientific fashions of their day, and attempts to rescue the brilliant work they did together.
"[A World Without Time is] very interesting if you like [scientific] speculation. Even if you don't, the descriptions of the friendship between Godel and Einstein-Einstein said he went to his office at Princeton University mainly so that he would have the pleasure of Gšdel's company on his walk back home-make this book interesting." (Wisconsin State Journal)
如果时间只是幻想,而非真实存在,那世界将会怎样?作为一名哲学教授,此书作者在书中阐释说,爱因斯坦的相对论将允许这种可能性,而第一个意识到这一点的则是哥德尔。很多人都知道,哥德尔和爱因斯坦是非常亲密的朋友。他们每天都要一同从普林斯顿高等研究所步行回家,他们分享物理学、哲学以及政治上的想法。但是并不广为人知的是,哥德尔于1949年做出了一项不寻常的发现:他认为爱因斯坦的相对论提供了一种可能性,即可能存在一个没有时间的世界。作者以一种哲学的背景加以思考而认为,哥德尔的发现势必会带来这样一个后果:假如哥德尔是对的,那么爱因斯坦并没有解释何为时间,而只是将这个问题搪塞过去了。爱因斯坦意识到他的朋友已经对相对论做出了重要的贡献,因为正是他对其理论提出了一个令人困扰的新问题:他的理论中是否还应保留时间。爱因斯坦之后的物理学家并未在哥德尔的理论中找出什么有误的成分,而哲学家们则保持沉默。此书所聚焦的正是哥德尔和爱因斯坦之间这戏剧性的一幕,并且将它置于20世纪人类智慧发展的大背景之下来讲述。在哥德尔和爱因斯坦生活的年代,无论是物理学、数学、哲学还是艺术都获得了非常大的进步。在这一背景之下,两位思想者的友谊故事无疑是动人心弦的。
In 1942, the logician Kurt Godel and Albert Einstein became close friends; they walked to and from their offices every day, exchanging ideas about science, philosophy, politics, and the lost world of German science. By 1949, Godel had produced a remarkable proof: In any universe described by the Theory of Relativity, time cannot exist. Einstein endorsed this result reluctantly but he could find no way to refute it, since then, neither has anyone else. Yet cosmologists and philosophers alike have proceeded as if this discovery was never made. In A World Without Time, Palle Yourgrau sets out to restore Godel to his rightful place in history, telling the story of two magnificent minds put on the shelf by the scientific fashions of their day, and attempts to rescue the brilliant work they did together.
"[A World Without Time is] very interesting if you like [scientific] speculation. Even if you don't, the descriptions of the friendship between Godel and Einstein-Einstein said he went to his office at Princeton University mainly so that he would have the pleasure of Gšdel's company on his walk back home-make this book interesting." (Wisconsin State Journal)
如果时间只是幻想,而非真实存在,那世界将会怎样?作为一名哲学教授,此书作者在书中阐释说,爱因斯坦的相对论将允许这种可能性,而第一个意识到这一点的则是哥德尔。很多人都知道,哥德尔和爱因斯坦是非常亲密的朋友。他们每天都要一同从普林斯顿高等研究所步行回家,他们分享物理学、哲学以及政治上的想法。但是并不广为人知的是,哥德尔于1949年做出了一项不寻常的发现:他认为爱因斯坦的相对论提供了一种可能性,即可能存在一个没有时间的世界。作者以一种哲学的背景加以思考而认为,哥德尔的发现势必会带来这样一个后果:假如哥德尔是对的,那么爱因斯坦并没有解释何为时间,而只是将这个问题搪塞过去了。爱因斯坦意识到他的朋友已经对相对论做出了重要的贡献,因为正是他对其理论提出了一个令人困扰的新问题:他的理论中是否还应保留时间。爱因斯坦之后的物理学家并未在哥德尔的理论中找出什么有误的成分,而哲学家们则保持沉默。此书所聚焦的正是哥德尔和爱因斯坦之间这戏剧性的一幕,并且将它置于20世纪人类智慧发展的大背景之下来讲述。在哥德尔和爱因斯坦生活的年代,无论是物理学、数学、哲学还是艺术都获得了非常大的进步。在这一背景之下,两位思想者的友谊故事无疑是动人心弦的。
The Invention of Science 豆瓣
作者:
David Wootton
Harper
2015
A companion to such acclaimed works as The Age of Wonder, A Clockwork Universe, and Darwin’s Ghosts—a groundbreaking examination of the greatest event in history, the Scientific Revolution, and how it came to change the way we understand ourselves and our world.
We live in a world transformed by scientific discovery. Yet today, science and its practitioners have come under political attack. In this fascinating history spanning continents and centuries, historian David Wootton offers a lively defense of science, revealing why the Scientific Revolution was truly the greatest event in our history.
The Invention of Science goes back five hundred years in time to chronicle this crucial transformation, exploring the factors that led to its birth and the people who made it happen. Wootton argues that the Scientific Revolution was actually five separate yet concurrent events that developed independently, but came to intersect and create a new worldview. Here are the brilliant iconoclasts—Galileo, Copernicus, Brahe, Newton, and many more curious minds from across Europe—whose studies of the natural world challenged centuries of religious orthodoxy and ingrained superstition.
From gunpowder technology, the discovery of the new world, movable type printing, perspective painting, and the telescope to the practice of conducting experiments, the laws of nature, and the concept of the fact, Wotton shows how these discoveries codified into a social construct and a system of knowledge. Ultimately, he makes clear the link between scientific discovery and the rise of industrialization—and the birth of the modern world we know.
We live in a world transformed by scientific discovery. Yet today, science and its practitioners have come under political attack. In this fascinating history spanning continents and centuries, historian David Wootton offers a lively defense of science, revealing why the Scientific Revolution was truly the greatest event in our history.
The Invention of Science goes back five hundred years in time to chronicle this crucial transformation, exploring the factors that led to its birth and the people who made it happen. Wootton argues that the Scientific Revolution was actually five separate yet concurrent events that developed independently, but came to intersect and create a new worldview. Here are the brilliant iconoclasts—Galileo, Copernicus, Brahe, Newton, and many more curious minds from across Europe—whose studies of the natural world challenged centuries of religious orthodoxy and ingrained superstition.
From gunpowder technology, the discovery of the new world, movable type printing, perspective painting, and the telescope to the practice of conducting experiments, the laws of nature, and the concept of the fact, Wotton shows how these discoveries codified into a social construct and a system of knowledge. Ultimately, he makes clear the link between scientific discovery and the rise of industrialization—and the birth of the modern world we know.
莱布尼茨、牛顿与发明时间 豆瓣
Leibniz, Newton und die Erfindung der Zeit
作者:
[德] 托马斯·德·帕多瓦
译者:
盛世同
社会科学文献出版社
2019
- 10
艾萨克·牛顿与戈特弗里德·威廉·莱布尼茨围绕时间的本质展开的重要讨论标志着人们对时间的理解发生了根本转变。这发生在机械钟表的精确度跃升的时代:摆钟和精密怀表问世后,私人计时器在大城市的市民阶层中迅速普及。物理学家和科学评论员托马斯·德·帕多瓦借助牛顿和莱布尼茨的引人入胜的传记,铺陈出我们理解时间的历史。他旁征博引,讲述了时间是如何在十八世纪来临之际变得无所不在,并成为自然研究的中心课题的。简而言之:为什么近现代(德文“Neuzeit”,本意为“新时间”或“新时代”)是名副其实的。
Battle at Sea 豆瓣
作者:
R. G. Grant
DK ADULT
2008
- 8
Battle at Sea looks at every aspect of the story of warfare on, above, and under the sea, including classic naval engagements daring raids carried out on ships in harbor, and landing operations such as D-Day, where control of the sea was essential to transport land forces to new battlefronts. Special features within the book include: graphic and dramatic battle catalogs relating the stories of the men, ships, and organizations behind history's greatest naval conflicts; spectacular 3D digital artworks following the crucial stages of key battles, step by step; profiles of naval crew - the captain, officers, gunners, quartermaster, surgeon, cooks, and boatswains - exploring their changing roles throughout history; eyewitness accounts recreating the experience of the opposing forces in key battles, whether preparing for conflict, in the heat of battle, or dealing with the aftermath of an engagement; photographic tours revealing the intricate details of surviving or reconstructed warships-from an Ancient Greek trireme to a nuclear-powered submarine; features on weapons and technology highlighting developments in naval warfare, from boarding equipment to sonar, cannons to missiles, and propulsion through steam to nuclear power.
大流感 豆瓣
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History
9.8 (8 个评分)
作者:
约翰·M·巴里
译者:
钟扬等 译 金力 校
上海科技教育出版社
2008
《大流感:历史上最致命瘟疫的史诗》主要内容:大流感指的是1918—1919年横扫世界的那次流感大流行,过去估计全球死亡人数约2000万,最新的权威估计数字为5000万-1亿。这个数字不仅高于历年来命丧艾滋病的人数总和,更远超中世纪二黑死病所造成的死亡人数。《大流感—历史上最致命瘟疫的史诗》作者依据大量的历史资料和数据,重绘1918年的惨状,为我们再现了这场最致命瘟疫发生、发展及其肆虐全球的过程,
在《大流感—历史上最致命瘟疫的史诗》中,作者多线索展开论述,纵横交错地记述了有史以来最具毁灭性的流感故事,以及20世纪科学与医学发展的历史。《大流感—历史上最致命瘟疫的史诗》细致入微地描写了科学、政治与疾病传播互动的过程,并述及传统医学演化至现代医学的重要里程碑,以及当年科学家、医学工作者等在巨大压力下所显示出的勇气或怯懦,信仰、价值观、研究态度和方法……
这部著作不只是简单讲述1918年发生的事件,它同时也是一部权威性的有关科学、政治和文化的传奇。
在《大流感—历史上最致命瘟疫的史诗》中,作者多线索展开论述,纵横交错地记述了有史以来最具毁灭性的流感故事,以及20世纪科学与医学发展的历史。《大流感—历史上最致命瘟疫的史诗》细致入微地描写了科学、政治与疾病传播互动的过程,并述及传统医学演化至现代医学的重要里程碑,以及当年科学家、医学工作者等在巨大压力下所显示出的勇气或怯懦,信仰、价值观、研究态度和方法……
这部著作不只是简单讲述1918年发生的事件,它同时也是一部权威性的有关科学、政治和文化的传奇。
The Pursuit of Power 豆瓣
作者:
Richard J. Evans
Viking
2016
- 11
An Economist Best Book of the Year
“Sweeping . . . an ambitious synthesis . . . [Evans] writes with admirable narrative power and possesses a wonderful eye for local color . . . Fascinating.”—Stephen Schuker, The Wall Street Journal
From the bestselling author of The Third Reich at War, a masterly account of Europe in the age of its global hegemony; the latest volume in the Penguin History of Europe series
Richard J. Evans, bestselling historian of Nazi Germany, returns with a monumental new addition to the acclaimed Penguin History of Europe series, covering the period from the fall of Napoleon to the outbreak of World War I. Evans’s gripping narrative ranges across a century of social and national conflicts, from the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 to the unification of both Germany and Italy, from the Russo-Turkish wars to the Balkan upheavals that brought this era of relative peace and growing prosperity to an end. Among the great themes it discusses are the decline of religious belief and the rise of secular science and medicine, the journey of art, music, and literature from Romanticism to Modernism, the replacement of old-regime punishments by the modern prison, the end of aristocratic domination and the emergence of industrial society, and the dramatic struggle of feminists for women’s equality and emancipation. Uniting the era’s broad-ranging transformations was the pursuit of power in all segments of life, from the banker striving for economic power to the serf seeking to escape the power of his landlord, from the engineer asserting society’s power over the environment to the psychiatrist attempting to exert science’s power over human nature itself.
The first single-volume history of the century, this comprehensive and sweeping account gives the reader a magnificently human picture of Europe in the age when it dominated the rest of the globe.
“Sweeping . . . an ambitious synthesis . . . [Evans] writes with admirable narrative power and possesses a wonderful eye for local color . . . Fascinating.”—Stephen Schuker, The Wall Street Journal
From the bestselling author of The Third Reich at War, a masterly account of Europe in the age of its global hegemony; the latest volume in the Penguin History of Europe series
Richard J. Evans, bestselling historian of Nazi Germany, returns with a monumental new addition to the acclaimed Penguin History of Europe series, covering the period from the fall of Napoleon to the outbreak of World War I. Evans’s gripping narrative ranges across a century of social and national conflicts, from the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 to the unification of both Germany and Italy, from the Russo-Turkish wars to the Balkan upheavals that brought this era of relative peace and growing prosperity to an end. Among the great themes it discusses are the decline of religious belief and the rise of secular science and medicine, the journey of art, music, and literature from Romanticism to Modernism, the replacement of old-regime punishments by the modern prison, the end of aristocratic domination and the emergence of industrial society, and the dramatic struggle of feminists for women’s equality and emancipation. Uniting the era’s broad-ranging transformations was the pursuit of power in all segments of life, from the banker striving for economic power to the serf seeking to escape the power of his landlord, from the engineer asserting society’s power over the environment to the psychiatrist attempting to exert science’s power over human nature itself.
The first single-volume history of the century, this comprehensive and sweeping account gives the reader a magnificently human picture of Europe in the age when it dominated the rest of the globe.
How We Invented Freedom & Why It Matters 豆瓣
作者:
Daniel Hannan
Head Of Zeus
2015
- 4
Mathematics in Ancient Egypt 豆瓣
作者:
Annette Imhausen
Princeton University Press
2016
- 2
A History of Parametric Statistical Inference from Bernoulli to Fisher, 1713-1935 豆瓣
作者:
Anders Hald
Springer
2006
This book offers a detailed history of parametric statistical inference. Covering the period between James Bernoulli and R.A. Fisher, it examines: binomial statistical inference; statistical inference by inverse probability; the central limit theorem and linear minimum variance estimation by Laplace and Gauss; error theory, skew distributions, correlation, sampling distributions; and the Fisherian Revolution. Lively biographical sketches of many of the main characters are featured throughout, including Laplace, Gauss, Edgeworth, Fisher, and Karl Pearson. Also examined are the roles played by DeMoivre, James Bernoulli, and Lagrange.
Hall of Mirrors 豆瓣 Goodreads
作者:
Barry Eichengreen
Oxford University Press
2015
- 1
The two great financial crises of the past century are the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Recession, which began in 2008. Both occurred against the backdrop of sharp credit booms, dubious banking practices, and a fragile and unstable global financial system. When markets went into cardiac arrest in 2008, policymakers invoked the lessons of the Great Depression in attempting to avert the worst. While their response prevented a financial collapse and catastrophic depression like that of the 1930s, unemployment in the U.S. and Europe still rose to excruciating high levels. Pain and suffering were widespread.
The question, given this, is why didn't policymakers do better? Hall of Mirrors, Barry Eichengreen's monumental twinned history of the two crises, provides the farthest-reaching answer to this question to date. Alternating back and forth between the two crises and between North America and Europe, Eichengreen shows how fear of another Depression following the collapse of Lehman Brothers shaped policy responses on both continents, with both positive and negative results. Since bank failures were a prominent feature of the Great Depression, policymakers moved quickly to strengthen troubled banks. But because derivatives markets were not important in the 1930s, they missed problems in the so-called shadow banking system. Having done too little to support spending in the 1930s, governments also ramped up public spending this time around. But the response was indiscriminate and quickly came back to haunt overly indebted governments, particularly in Southern Europe. Moreover, because politicians overpromised, and because their measures failed to stave off a major recession, a backlash quickly developed against activist governments and central banks. Policymakers then prematurely succumbed to the temptation to return to normal policies before normal conditions had returned. The result has been a grindingly slow recovery in the United States and endless recession in Europe.
Hall of Mirrors is both a major work of economic history and an essential exploration of how we avoided making only some of the same mistakes twice. It shows not just how the "lessons" of Great Depression history continue to shape society's response to contemporary economic problems, but also how the experience of the Great Recession will permanently change how we think about the Great Depression.
The question, given this, is why didn't policymakers do better? Hall of Mirrors, Barry Eichengreen's monumental twinned history of the two crises, provides the farthest-reaching answer to this question to date. Alternating back and forth between the two crises and between North America and Europe, Eichengreen shows how fear of another Depression following the collapse of Lehman Brothers shaped policy responses on both continents, with both positive and negative results. Since bank failures were a prominent feature of the Great Depression, policymakers moved quickly to strengthen troubled banks. But because derivatives markets were not important in the 1930s, they missed problems in the so-called shadow banking system. Having done too little to support spending in the 1930s, governments also ramped up public spending this time around. But the response was indiscriminate and quickly came back to haunt overly indebted governments, particularly in Southern Europe. Moreover, because politicians overpromised, and because their measures failed to stave off a major recession, a backlash quickly developed against activist governments and central banks. Policymakers then prematurely succumbed to the temptation to return to normal policies before normal conditions had returned. The result has been a grindingly slow recovery in the United States and endless recession in Europe.
Hall of Mirrors is both a major work of economic history and an essential exploration of how we avoided making only some of the same mistakes twice. It shows not just how the "lessons" of Great Depression history continue to shape society's response to contemporary economic problems, but also how the experience of the Great Recession will permanently change how we think about the Great Depression.
Golden Fetters 豆瓣
作者:
Barry Eichengreen
Oxford University Press, USA
1996
- 2
This is a reassessment of the international monetary crises of the post-World War I period, that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s. It also analyzes the responses of the world's economic powers to the Depression and how new monetary policies set the stage for the watershed post-World War II system established at Bretton Woods. It offers new theories of what effect the Great Depression had on the collapse of the world monetary system, and what effect the collapse had on deepening and prolonging the Depression, by exploring the link between global economic crises and the the gold standard (the framework for international monetary affairs until 1931).