In case you're interested in what a non-specialist thinks of Braudel.
Danny Yee.
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series: Civilization and Capitalism
: 15th-18th Century
titles: The Structures of Everyday Life
: The Wheels of Commerce
: The Perspective of the World
by: Fernand Braudel
from: the French [Sian Reynolds]
publisher: HarperCollins 1985 [1975]
subjects: history, economics
other: 623, 670, 699 pages, b&w halftones, references, indices
_Civilization and Capitalism_ is the single most impressive work of
history I have read. Braudel's magnum opus is an economic history of
the four centuries during which the modern world was shaped. The
emphasis is, in _Annales_ style, very much on social and economic
history -- wars, treaties, kings and popes only feature incidentally.
Braudel takes a very broad view of his subject, however: temporally
_Civilization and Capitalism_ looks both backwards to earlier
civilisations and forwards to the present; geographically it covers the
whole world, though the focus is on the "civilised" parts of it, and
particularly on Western Europe. At the heart of Braudel's account is a
three-level hierarchy: at the base is ordinary economic life, an
all-embracing sea of subsistence agriculture, village barter, and
production for local consumption; above this is the market, a world of
towns and trade, of markets, fairs, currencies, transport systems, bills
of exchange, and workshops; and finally there is capitalism, with its
monopolies, attempts to control complete trade networks or even entire
world-economies, and stress on flexibility above all else. The
structure of _Civilization and Capitalism_ roughly reflects this
hierarchy.
_The Structures of Everyday Life_, subtitled "The Limits of the
Possible", deals with the everyday constraints of material life; in it
Braudel sketches what is almost a social history of the world. He
begins with a chapter on demographics, which he sees as fundamental to
understanding history. Two chapters are devoted to food: one to basic
subsistence, in the form of the three great cereal crops -- wheat, rice
and maize -- that feed most of the world's people; the other to the
"luxuries" -- such things as table manners, salt, meat and spices. The
shifting boundary between luxury and necessity here is also apparent in
houses, clothes and fashion, and Braudel suggests it was significant
that only Europe had rapidly changing fashions. Two chapters cover
energy sources, metallurgy, transportation, and the critical
technological innovations -- gunpowder, printing, and above all sea
navigation -- which contributed to Europe's dominance. The final
chapter surveys the growth of towns, which Braudel considers both an
instrument and a clear marker of change.
_The Wheels of Commerce_ moves on to trade and the market economy.
Braudel begins with the material culture of exchange, from shops,
markets, and pedlars to fairs and stock exchanges. He then explores the
higher levels of commerce: networks of merchants, trade circuits, bills
of exchange, supply and demand, trade balances, the relationship between
gold and silver currencies, and so forth. Two chapters deal with
capitalism. The first explores its scope and its relationship with
agriculture and early forms of industry, and in particular why it failed
to take hold in these domains. The second considers capitalism on its
home ground in finance and international trade, in a world of
partnerships and companies, of monopolies and control, with an influence
vastly disproportionate to its relative size. A final chapter places
economic life in the context of society seen as a "set of sets",
connecting it with social hierarchies, the state and the broad dynamic
of cultural change.
_The Perspective of the World_ takes a global, world-systemic approach.
Braudel begins by arguing for the existence of multiple
"world-economies" and describing their geographical and temporal
dimensions. He then traces the development of the European
world-economy and of the "world cities" which successively ruled it:
Venice, Antwerp, Genoa, Amsterdam and finally London. This is followed
by an analysis of the emerging national economies and their relationship
with international capitalism, with a detailed comparison of France and
England. Braudel then turns to the rest of the world -- the Americas,
Black Africa, Russia, Islam, the Far East -- and its relationship with
Europe, before returning for a analysis of the industrial revolution in
the light of the previous analysis of capitalism. Here Braudel seems
somewhat more tentative about his conclusions than he had been in the
earlier volumes.
These summaries do little justice to Braudel's work: its genius lies in
his refusal to be constrained by arbitrary disciplinary boundaries and
in his ability to combine detail with the broad picture. Despite the
depth of detail he deploys (he appears to have encyclopedic knowledge
when it comes to early modern Western European history), Braudel writes
expansively, almost leisurely, and despite the huge canvas of his work
he finds the space for extended examples. _Civilization and Capitalism_
is liberally illustrated with black and white halftones (mostly
reproductions from contemporary paintings) and uses diagrams, graphs and
maps to really good effect. (No dry tables of numbers, but such things
as maps showing the speed with which news reached Venice from different
parts of Europe in different periods or the geography of literacy in
France on the eve of the Revolution.)
If you want to understand why the modern world is the way it is (or, as
some would put it, the difference between "modernity" and
"pre-modernity"), then I can't think of a better starting place than
_Civilization and Capitalism_. It should be compulsive reading for
anyone at all interested in economics or early modern history. While
Braudel's work is an attempt at synthesis rather than at summary or
popularisation, you don't need a lot of technical knowledge to
appreciate it: though a general knowledge of the history of the period
would help, even that is not really necessary. Each of the three
volumes can stand alone: if you are predominantly interested in social
history then you may just want to read _The Structures of Everyday
Life_; if you are after the broad sweep of world-systems theory and
global capitalism then _The Perspective of the World_. If you have the
time, however, I definitely recommend reading _Civilization and
Capitalism_ in its entirety.
--%T The Structures of Everyday Life %S The Limits of the Possible %Y Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century %A Fernand Braudel %F Sian Reynolds %M French %I HarperCollins %C London %D 1985 [1975] %O paperback, b&w halftones, references, index %G ISBN 0-00-686077-X %P 623pp %K history, economics, anthropology
%T The Wheels of Commerce %Y Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century %A Fernand Braudel %F Sian Reynolds %M French %I HarperCollins %C London %D 1985 [1975] %O paperback, b&w halftones, references, index %G ISBN 0-00-686078-8 %P 670pp %K history, economics
%T The Perspective of the World %Y Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century %A Fernand Braudel %F Sian Reynolds %M French %I HarperCollins %C London %D 1985 [1979] %O paperback, b&w halftones, references, index %G ISBN 0-00-686079-6 %P 699pp %K history, economics
Danny Yee (danny@cs.su.oz.au) 19 August 1995
--------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1995 Danny Yee | 230 reviews available at --------------------------------------------------------- http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/danny/book-reviews/index.html ---------------------------------------------------------