The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy.
Pomeranz is a history professor at the University of California^-Irvine and the author ofThe Making of a Hinterland: State, Society, and Economy in Inland North China, 1853^-1937(1993), an academic study that investigated the role of steam-powered transportation (among other developments) in the growth of China's Shantung Province. He is also the coauthor of the more popularly accessibleThe World That Trade Created(1999). Now he looks at the question of why sustained industrial growth began in northwestern Europe but not East Asia. To even ask the question can bring charges of Eurocentrism, but Pomeranz acknowledges the role of colonialism in Europe's growth. He emphasizes, though, Europe's access to America's resources as one of two contributing factors to industrial growth, the second being the widespread availability within Europe of coal as a fuel. After challenging the convention that Europe held an edge before 1800, he traces with scholarly diligence the diverging patterns of growth between Europe and China.David Rouse--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.