Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Winter 2011
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly 31:1 (Winter 2011).
Abstract
During the early modern era, the great powers of the world enjoyed a rough parity of strength. But in the nineteenth century, during a great "divergence," the Anglo-American world gained ground over the others. Some historians have attributed this to inherent advantages of Anglo-Saxon culture, others to the natural resources of the Anglo world, and others to its growth-promoting institutions. James Belich believes historians must also consider another factor, what he calls the Anglo-American "Settler Revolution" of the nineteenth century.
Other European powers, Belich argues, did not have the staying power of the Anglo-American world. The Dutch, for example, had an earlier start and quickly built an empire with English-style entrepreneurship, but they "were not great settlers." Belich reviews and dismisses the imperial accomplishments of Spain, Portugal, Russia, and China and convincingly establishes the uniqueness of and the long term advantages bestowed by the ''Anglophone settler explosion" of the nineteenth century. While explaining the Anglo-American Settler Revolution, he also expertly analyzes a large corpus of scholarship on industrialization, transportation, communication, railroads, steam power, banking, literacy, printing, newspapers, and mail, explaining how they all abetted the Anglophone settlement boom.
Comments
Copyright © 2011 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska.