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About the Author

David Landes is an economist who has enjoyed a distinguished academic career which includes senior posts at Columbia University and Harvard. He has both written and edited a great deal, and his work has been published in the States and Europe.

Reviews

'A masterpiece' Norman Stone 'One of the most important works of history to appear in my lifetime' A N Wilson 'For once, amazingly, a book lives up to the hype ... a blast of fresh air, a work of militant good sense' EVENING STANDARD 'Gripping ... well worth reading' OBSERVER

'A masterpiece' Norman Stone 'One of the most important works of history to appear in my lifetime' A N Wilson 'For once, amazingly, a book lives up to the hype ... a blast of fresh air, a work of militant good sense' EVENING STANDARD 'Gripping ... well worth reading' OBSERVER

Landes (Revolution in Time), Harvard professor emeritus of history, undertakes an economic and cultural history of the world during the past five centuries. His well-written, sometimes witty analysis is the kind of work one wants to pause over and reflect upon at each chapter before moving ahead. Landes's principal argument is that the richest nations continue to prosper while poorer nations lag behind because of their relative ability or inability to exploit science, technology and economic opportunity. In every case‘from ancient China to modern Japan‘he maintains this is largely the result of national attitudes about a myriad of cultural factors. Landes traces the story of England's industrial revolution and America's system of mass production as indicators of the West's superiority over the rest of the world. Some of his historical illustrations are thought-provoking: for example, the importance of air conditioning to the development of the New South in the U.S. and the impact of a lifetime of eating with chopsticks on the manual dexterity of Asia's microprocessing workers. Most of all, Landes stresses the importance of cultural values, such as a predisposition for hard work, open-mindedness and a commitment to democracy, in determining a nation's course toward wealth and power. (Mar.)