Western Europeans were among the first; if not the first; to invent mechanical clocks; geometrically precise maps; double-entry bookkeeping; precise algebraic and musical notations; and perspective painting. More people in Western Europe thought quantitatively in the sixteenth century than in any other part of the world; enabling them to become the world's leaders. With amusing detail and historical anecdote; Alfred Crosby discusses the shift from qualitative to quantitative perception that occurred during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Alfred W. Crosby is the author of five books; including the award-winning Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe; 900-1900 (Cambridge; 1986)
#687377 in Books Cambridge University Press 1996-09-28Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.98 x .59 x 5.98l; .64 #File Name: 0521576490216 pages
Review
18 of 23 people found the following review helpful. somewhat unconnected and jargon-filled series of essaysBy A CustomerRogers Brubaker; Professor of Sociology at UCLA and part-time teacher at the Central European University in Budapest; has written six decent essays on nationalism here which don't really comprise a full book. Originally published in such journals as 'Daedalus' and 'Ethnic and Racial Studies'; the essays present some interesting new concepts for the study of nationalism like 'nationalizing states' (a process which Benedict Anderson might call 'official nationalism') and 'homeland nationalism' (where a nation-state has significant numbers of its cultural community located outside its borders; i.e. Germany between the world wars and Russia today).Yet Brubaker sometimes dips a bit much into jargon-filled sociological theory: for example; drawing from Pierre Bourdieu (who has a blurb on the back of the book); Brubaker defines a national minority as 'a dynamic political stance; or; more precisely; a family of related yet mutually competing stances.' Furthermore; he credits institutionalization too much for nationalism in the former USSR (i.e. Central Asia); calling nationalism a political phenomenon and thus not drawing enough attention to culture; language; religion; etc.Nonetheless the essays are worth a quick read; especially the one comparing Weimar Germany and contemporary Russia.
