Publishers Weekly
04/10/2023
James (The War of Words), a history professor at Princeton, traces the development of globalization over the last 200 years in this dry chronicle. He studies the worldwide economic turmoil caused by the Great Famine in Europe in 1845–1849, the Panic of 1873, WWI, the Great Depression, 1970s inflation, the Great Recession, and Covid-19, suggesting that each had a lasting influence on the world order. During the Great Famine, he notes, food shortages in France, Britain, and Ireland forced the countries to significantly increase how much grain they imported and caused political shock waves that led to trade liberalization policies in the 1860s. James asserts that economic crises can also cause countries to turn away from globalization, as when economist John Maynard Keynes responded to the Great Depression by arguing the U.K. should focus on internal management of the economy. The Keynesian approach ended with the stagflation of the 1970s, which caused an increase in international financing that furthered globalization and set the stage for the international repercussions of the Great Recession and the “Great Lockdown.” James sometimes struggles to connect his evidence and his conclusions, as when he contradictorily suggests that “crises push more... globalization” despite arguing that the Great Depression turned the tide against globalization in the U.S. Additionally, the byzantine writing will deter general readers. This is a hard sell outside the classroom. (May)
From the Publisher
[A] fascinating book. . . . James’s surprising conclusion is that supply shocks promote globalisation, while demand shocks inhibit it.”—Martin Wolf, Financial Times, “Best Books of 2023—Economics”“Even readers who are familiar with the economic history will find striking new details and surprising juxtapositions.”—Trevor Jackson, New York of Review of Books“A very enjoyable new book . . . applies the lens of whether each the seven advanced or set back the process of globalization to crises ranging from famines and blights in the 1840s via wars and depressions, commodity price hikes in the 1970s, the GFC and the Covid lockdowns and Russian invasion of Ukraine. . . . Masterly concise essays.”—Diane Coyle, Enlightened Economist (blog)“For anyone wanting to truly understand the historical basis for economic globalization and how it has evolved past some of the major economic crises of the last two centuries, [Seven Crashes] offers valuable insight and lessons for the future.”—Jerry Lenaburg, New York Journal of BooksShortlisted for the Lionel Gelber Prize, sponsored by the Munk Centre for International Studies“An audacious historical interpretation of how global mega-shocks have driven globalization cycles over the last two centuries. Anyone hoping to forecast the future of the world economy should read it.”—Maurice Obstfeld, Class of 1958 Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley“Those who cherish economics will be fascinated by Harold James’s exploration of financial crises, and the ways in which they have validated the views of those economists who saw them coming.”—Edmund Phelps, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences and director of the Center on Capitalism and Society, Columbia University“A brilliant book—James shows how economists often draw the wrong lessons from the past and why globalization is unlikely to vanish in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.”—Odd Arne Westad, author of The Cold War: A World History“James’s masterful account sheds new light on how globalization has been shaped by economic crises since the nineteenth century and deepens our understanding of globalization’s opportunities and its challenges.”—Linda Yueh, author of The Great Crashes: Lessons from Global Meltdowns and How to Prevent Them“If you are looking for a book that puts the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic into historical context and considers what it means for the economy’s future, this is it.”—Mark Zandi, author of Paying the Price: Ending the Great Recession and Ensuring a New American Century
