Overview

In Globalization and Transformation, Bruce Mazlish examines developments in contemporary warfare, economy, technology, and religion as fundamental factors in human experience that have accelerated global change in recent years. Continuing the analysis he began in Reflections on the Modern and the Global, Mazlish delves into human history, examining who we were so as to help us understand who we are today. Early in the volume, Mazlish highlights the British historian Geoffrey Barraclough, who foresaw the trajectory of world events that gave rise to the ""New Global History."" He also examines humanity's progress, reminding us of contemporary globalization's precursors: the theories of Charles Darwin; the concept of the global and the local coupled with inquiry into the concept of parts and wholes; merchant empires, such as the English and Dutch East India companies that crisscrossed the ocean in pursuit of profits and power; anti-globalization; and the linkage of globalization to the very concept of humanity. Though globalization is a complex concept, and versatile in its applications, Mazlish focuses on its transformational characteristics, noting that globalization's impact is not uniform across society's culture, politics, or economics. Some parts of the world have yet to accept the challenge to their past traditions. These stimulating essays offer new insights into a major phenomenon of our time.

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9781412856058

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Reviews

-About seventy years ago, humans stepped into space, acquired the ability to destroy life on earth and learned how to instantaneously communicate around the globe. History, argues Bruce Mazlish in this path-breaking book, never looked the same again. As a truly global history emerged, historians' old attachment to the nation state made little sense. History had to become the history of all of us on 'spaceship earth.' Globalization and Transformation is the deeply learned and brilliantly argued manifesto of the New Global History.- --Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University -Here is the chance to have a conversation on history and on the future with a scholar well known for his work on the history of ideas and of modern science. That scholarship also sought insight into the contemporary world, a concern at the core of the reflections here. As in a good conversation, the style is informal, repetitive, and lucid, inviting the reader to reflect and question. Each chapter begins from a different starting point and then circles back to argue that we have entered a new era. Erudition worn lightly leads to speculation on the future, a discourse revealing why Bruce Mazlish became a principal promoter of global history and setting forth his vision for a New Global History.- --Raymond Grew, University of Michigan -The distinguished historian Bruce Mazlish draws upon encyclopaedic knowledge accumulated over a lifetime, and his prose is enviably elegant and pellucid. He is a champion of 'the New Global History', concerned principally with the global society that has emerged since the Second World War. But, against the widespread idea that modern/postmodern/globalised society is so radically different from anything that went before--the idea that, in Henry Ford's pithy phrase, 'history is bunk'--Mazlish demonstrates how much a profound knowledge of the long-term human past is essential to a proper understanding of the human present.- --Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin ""About seventy years ago, humans stepped into space, acquired the ability to destroy life on earth and learned how to instantaneously communicate around the globe. History, argues Bruce Mazlish in this path-breaking book, never looked the same again. As a truly global history emerged, historians' old attachment to the nation state made little sense. History had to become the history of all of us on 'spaceship earth.' Globalization and Transformation is the deeply learned and brilliantly argued manifesto of the New Global History."" --Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University ""Here is the chance to have a conversation on history and on the future with a scholar well known for his work on the history of ideas and of modern science. That scholarship also sought insight into the contemporary world, a concern at the core of the reflections here. As in a good conversation, the style is informal, repetitive, and lucid, inviting the reader to reflect and question. Each chapter begins from a different starting point and then circles back to argue that we have entered a new era. Erudition worn lightly leads to speculation on the future, a discourse revealing why Bruce Mazlish became a principal promoter of global history and setting forth his vision for a New Global History."" --Raymond Grew, University of Michigan ""The distinguished historian Bruce Mazlish draws upon encyclopaedic knowledge accumulated over a lifetime, and his prose is enviably elegant and pellucid. He is a champion of 'the New Global History', concerned principally with the global society that has emerged since the Second World War. But, against the widespread idea that modern/postmodern/globalised society is so radically different from anything that went before--the idea that, in Henry Ford's pithy phrase, 'history is bunk'--Mazlish demonstrates how much a profound knowledge of the long-term human past is essential to a proper understanding of the human present."" --Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin ""About seventy years ago, humans stepped into space, acquired the ability to destroy life on earth and learned how to instantaneously communicate around the globe. History, argues Bruce Mazlish in this path-breaking book, never looked the same again. As a truly global history emerged, historians' old attachment to the nation state made little sense. History had to become the history of all of us on 'spaceship earth.' Globalization and Transformation is the deeply learned and brilliantly argued manifesto of the New Global History."" --Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University ""Here is the chance to have a conversation on history and on the future with a scholar well known for his work on the history of ideas and of modern science. That scholarship also sought insight into the contemporary world, a concern at the core of the reflections here. As in a good conversation, the style is informal, repetitive, and lucid, inviting the reader to reflect and question. Each chapter begins from a different starting point and then circles back to argue that we have entered a new era. Erudition worn lightly leads to speculation on the future, a discourse revealing why Bruce Mazlish became a principal promoter of global history and setting forth his vision for a New Global History."" --Raymond Grew, University of Michigan ""The distinguished historian Bruce Mazlish draws upon encyclopaedic knowledge accumulated over a lifetime, and his prose is enviably elegant and pellucid. He is a champion of 'the New Global History', concerned principally with the global society that has emerged since the Second World War. But, against the widespread idea that modern/postmodern/globalised society is so radically different from anything that went before--the idea that, in Henry Ford's pithy phrase, 'history is bunk'--Mazlish demonstrates how much a profound knowledge of the long-term human past is essential to a proper understanding of the human present."" --Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin ""The distinguished historian Bruce Mazlish draws upon encyclopaedic knowledge accumulated over a lifetime, and his prose is enviably elegant and pellucid. He is a champion of 'the New Global History', concerned principally with the global society that has emerged since the Second World War. But, against the widespread idea that modern/postmodern/globalised society is so radically different from anything that went before--the idea that, in Henry Ford's pithy phrase, 'history is bunk'--Mazlish demonstrates how much a profound knowledge of the long-term human past is essential to a proper understanding of the human present."" --Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin

About seventy years ago, humans stepped into space, acquired the ability to destroy life on earth and learned how to instantaneously communicate around the globe. History, argues Bruce Mazlish in this path-breaking book, never looked the same again. As a truly global history emerged, historians' old attachment to the nation state made little sense. History had to become the history of all of us on 'spaceship earth.' Globalization and Transformation is the deeply learned and brilliantly argued manifesto of the New Global History. --Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University The distinguished historian Bruce Mazlish draws upon encyclopaedic knowledge accumulated over a lifetime, and his prose is enviably elegant and pellucid. He is a champion of 'the New Global History', concerned principally with the global society that has emerged since the Second World War. But, against the widespread idea that modern/postmodern/globalised society is so radically different from anything that went before--the idea that, in Henry Ford's pithy phrase, 'history is bunk'--Mazlish demonstrates how much a profound knowledge of the long-term human past is essential to a proper understanding of the human present. --Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin

-About seventy years ago, humans stepped into space, acquired the ability to destroy life on earth and learned how to instantaneously communicate around the globe. History, argues Bruce Mazlish in this path-breaking book, never looked the same again. As a truly global history emerged, historians' old attachment to the nation state made little sense. History had to become the history of all of us on 'spaceship earth.' Globalization and Transformation is the deeply learned and brilliantly argued manifesto of the New Global History.- --Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University -Here is the chance to have a conversation on history and on the future with a scholar well known for his work on the history of ideas and of modern science. That scholarship also sought insight into the contemporary world, a concern at the core of the reflections here. As in a good conversation, the style is informal, repetitive, and lucid, inviting the reader to reflect and question. Each chapter begins from a different starting point and then circles back to argue that we have entered a new era. Erudition worn lightly leads to speculation on the future, a discourse revealing why Bruce Mazlish became a principal promoter of global history and setting forth his vision for a New Global History.- --Raymond Grew, University of Michigan -The distinguished historian Bruce Mazlish draws upon encyclopaedic knowledge accumulated over a lifetime, and his prose is enviably elegant and pellucid. He is a champion of 'the New Global History', concerned principally with the global society that has emerged since the Second World War. But, against the widespread idea that modern/postmodern/globalised society is so radically different from anything that went before--the idea that, in Henry Ford's pithy phrase, 'history is bunk'--Mazlish demonstrates how much a profound knowledge of the long-term human past is essential to a proper understanding of the human present.- --Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin About seventy years ago, humans stepped into space, acquired the ability to destroy life on earth and learned how to instantaneously communicate around the globe. History, argues Bruce Mazlish in this path-breaking book, never looked the same again. As a truly global history emerged, historians' old attachment to the nation state made little sense. History had to become the history of all of us on 'spaceship earth.' Globalization and Transformation is the deeply learned and brilliantly argued manifesto of the New Global History. --Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University Here is the chance to have a conversation on history and on the future with a scholar well known for his work on the history of ideas and of modern science. That scholarship also sought insight into the contemporary world, a concern at the core of the reflections here. As in a good conversation, the style is informal, repetitive, and lucid, inviting the reader to reflect and question. Each chapter begins from a different starting point and then circles back to argue that we have entered a new era. Erudition worn lightly leads to speculation on the future, a discourse revealing why Bruce Mazlish became a principal promoter of global history and setting forth his vision for a New Global History. --Raymond Grew, University of Michigan The distinguished historian Bruce Mazlish draws upon encyclopaedic knowledge accumulated over a lifetime, and his prose is enviably elegant and pellucid. He is a champion of 'the New Global History', concerned principally with the global society that has emerged since the Second World War. But, against the widespread idea that modern/postmodern/globalised society is so radically different from anything that went before--the idea that, in Henry Ford's pithy phrase, 'history is bunk'--Mazlish demonstrates how much a profound knowledge of the long-term human past is essential to a proper understanding of the human present. --Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin About seventy years ago, humans stepped into space, acquired the ability to destroy life on earth and learned how to instantaneously communicate around the globe. History, argues Bruce Mazlish in this path-breaking book, never looked the same again. As a truly global history emerged, historians' old attachment to the nation state made little sense. History had to become the history of all of us on 'spaceship earth.' Globalization and Transformation is the deeply learned and brilliantly argued manifesto of the New Global History. --Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University Here is the chance to have a conversation on history and on the future with a scholar well known for his work on the history of ideas and of modern science. That scholarship also sought insight into the contemporary world, a concern at the core of the reflections here. As in a good conversation, the style is informal, repetitive, and lucid, inviting the reader to reflect and question. Each chapter begins from a different starting point and then circles back to argue that we have entered a new era. Erudition worn lightly leads to speculation on the future, a discourse revealing why Bruce Mazlish became a principal promoter of global history and setting forth his vision for a New Global History. --Raymond Grew, University of Michigan The distinguished historian Bruce Mazlish draws upon encyclopaedic knowledge accumulated over a lifetime, and his prose is enviably elegant and pellucid. He is a champion of 'the New Global History', concerned principally with the global society that has emerged since the Second World War. But, against the widespread idea that modern/postmodern/globalised society is so radically different from anything that went before--the idea that, in Henry Ford's pithy phrase, 'history is bunk'--Mazlish demonstrates how much a profound knowledge of the long-term human past is essential to a proper understanding of the human present. --Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin The distinguished historian Bruce Mazlish draws upon encyclopaedic knowledge accumulated over a lifetime, and his prose is enviably elegant and pellucid. He is a champion of 'the New Global History', concerned principally with the global society that has emerged since the Second World War. But, against the widespread idea that modern/postmodern/globalised society is so radically different from anything that went before--the idea that, in Henry Ford's pithy phrase, 'history is bunk'--Mazlish demonstrates how much a profound knowledge of the long-term human past is essential to a proper understanding of the human present. --Stephen Mennell, University College Dublin

Author Information

Bruce Mazlish is professor emeritus of history at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and fellow of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, USA. He is the author of The Leader, The Led, and the Psyche; The Riddle of History; and Reflections on the Modern and the Global.

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