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ALPHABETICAL BRAIN™ VOCABULARY
HUMANIST GALAXY
OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS
PAUL STRATHERN
June 23, 2021
EMPIRE:
A New History of the World
by Paul Strathern.
Pegasus Books, 2020 (262 pages)
note = Numbers in parentheses refer to pages
note = The following quotes are from the Introduction (8 and 26) and "Chapter 10, Future Prospects by the author, Paul Strathern. (236-238)
Quote = "Each of these three tales illuminates aspects in the creation of empire: the sense of adventure, the administration involved, as well as the dogged pursuit and exercise of sheer power. And as we have seen, such achievements frequently incorporate elements of their own self-destruction --- to say nothing of any ensuing imaginative distortion of the facts concerned." (Introduction, 8)
Quote = The multiplicity of synchronized organization that goes into the creation and function of a great empire is certainly humanity’s most complex achievement, responsible for much of our formative historical evolution. Yet ironically, the annals of empire are frequently more concerned with ethos than historical record. Our impression of empire, whether informed or jingoistic, remains ambiguous to this day." (Introduction, 8)
Quote = "And contrary to polls, slanted statistics, practitioners of ingenious econometrics and other magi of our age, the worldwide gap between these two strata of society has remained much the same since antiquity. In 1909, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto showed that ‘through any human society, in any age or country’, 20 per cent of the population owned 80 per cent of the wealth, and 20 per cent of that 20 per cent owned 80 per cent of that 80 per cent, and so on. According to this 80:20 power law, the top 0.6 per cent of the population should own 38.4 per cent of the wealth. According to the January 2019 OECD figures, the top 0.6 per cent of the world’s population owns 39.3 per cent of the world’s wealth!" (Introduction, 26)
Quote = "... ‘the end of capitalism’ has been predicted since we first recognised its existence --- generally agreed to have been around 500 years ago. Yet still it persists, in its latest adaptive form.This was the economic engine that lifted much of the world out of poverty, at the same time exploiting most those who benefitted from it least. According to the biblical adage attributed to Christ: ‘The poor are always with us.’ So, it seems, are the filthy rich!" (Chapter 10, 236)
Quote = "The claim that ‘the world is going to the dogs' has a... lengthy pedigree, being one of the earliest secular inscriptions deciphered from Ancient Egypt. Another unpalatable fact was revealed in the 19th century by the English economist, Reverend Robert Malthus, who reluctantly proved that the world's population would inevitably outgrow its ability to feed itself. Yet in the words of Charles Dickens' character, Mr. Micawber: ‘Something will turn up.' And so it did. The world learned how to produce more food." (Chapter 10, 237)
Quote = "No little part in this transformation was played by the great German chemist, Fritz Haber, who discovered how to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen gas, thus revolutionizing the manufacture of fertilizers. However, Haber eluded canonization by also creating poisonous gas for use in Warfare. Humanity's transformations have almost invariably emerged from left field. Accidents (such as Fleming's discovery of penicillin), a pig-headed refusal to accept the ‘facts' (Remember, Pasteur: ‘Chance favors the prepared mind'), as well as the genius flash of inspiration (For example, Archimedes' discovery of the buoyancy principle: 'Eureka!'), and many such discoveries, have all played their part in changing the course of history in utterly unforeseen fashion." (Chapter 10, 237)
Quote = "The latest of these life-changers is perhaps the computer-driven IT revolution. Just 30 years ago, people walking down the street talking animatedly to themselves, or believing it necessary to transmit their every passing thought for approval/disapproval by a host of imaginary friends, were liable to be escorted into care for their own good. Now they are simply part of social media." (Chapter 10, 237)
Quote = "The latest candidate for ‘The End of the World' (the catastrophe that will destroy our planet) is global warming. In my youth, it was a nuclear holocaust: few of us believed we would live until we were sixty. There has always been the argument: ‘Ah, but this time it's different.' This expression of wish-fulfilment has most frequently been employed by optimistic well-informed financiers during a prolonged bull market, when faced by nay-sayers predicting a crash that will destroy the world economy." (Chapter 10, 237-238)
Quote = "Democracy is a recipe for short-term-ism, and such governments are unlikely to implement collectively all the drastic solutions required to reverse global warming. Alternatives for the survival of our species, such as emigration to Mars, are more a matter between Elon Musk and his psychiatrist. Miracles such as cold fusion and massive powerful carbon dioxide absorbents have long been awaited." (Chapter 10, 238)
Quote = "The saving miracle, if it arrives, will be the biblical cloud ‘no bigger than a hand's span', which may even now be materializing just beyond the left field of our vision. As for future great empires, and the world geo-political picture... This may not be as harsh as the continuous warfare envisaged by George Orwell in his dystopian novel 1984; but it is more than possible that he accurately foresaw its empires and their competing spheres of influence. He posited three: Oceania (including the Americas, Australia, southern Africa and Britain), Eurasia (stretching from Portugal to the Pacific) and East Asia (a westward expanded China). Is it inevitable that one of these will emerge as the dominant power?" (Chapter 10, 238)
BOOK OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION --- Three telling tales of empire (1-11)
note = "Each of these three tales illuminates aspects in the creation of empire: the sense of adventure, the administration involved, as well as the dogged pursuit and exercise of sheer power. And as we have seen, such achievements frequently incorporate elements of their own self-destruction — to say nothing of any ensuing imaginative distortion of the facts concerned." (Introduction, 8)
note = "The multiplicity of synchronized organization that goes into the creation and function of a great empire is certainly humanity’s most complex achievement, responsible for much of our formative historical evolution. Yet ironically, the annals of empire are frequently more concerned with ethos than historical record. Our impression of empire, whether informed or jingoistic, remains ambiguous to this day." (Introduction, 8)
note = “These three tales of empire... may be viewed as paradigms of the wider generality of empire itself and how we have come to regard it. All of which brings us to the thorny topic of what precisely constitutes an empire? “What is its definition? Does this remain the same throughout world history? And indeed, what is the effect on world history of such entities?" (Introduction, 10)
note = “The Oxford English Dictionary definition of an empire is: ‘An extensive territory — especially an aggregate of many separate states — under the sway of an emperor or supreme ruler; also an aggregate of separate territories ruled over by a sovereign state.’ Here we have but a basic framework, inevitably, over the centuries this will take on different guises — not all of which will involve what we would regard as progressive elements of evolution." (Introduction, 10)
note = As indicated earlier, a description of empire must be deemed to subsume such elements as the spirit of adventure, administration, and power — initially in the form of war. Indeed, war and consequent subjugation of alien people would seem to be the formative impulse from which empire develops. ‘Civilizing’ aspects frequently, but not invariably, follow. It seems no accident that civilization — in its Western form — progressed across the globe more rapidly than ever before during the century which saw the first two world wars, followed by the threat of a third." (Introduction, 10)
note = "On the other hand, since the last decades of that century, and well into this one, the world has seen no major wars on that previous scale, while progress, especially in the form of the IT revolution and all that entails, has transformed the world as never before. Bearing in mind such multifarious aspects of empire, we can now begin to trace the history of the world as it is reflected in ten supreme examples of this phenomenon." (Introduction, 10-11)
note = "And contrary to polls, slanted statistics, practitioners of ingenious econometrics and other magi of our age, the worldwide gap between these two strata of society has remained much the same since antiquity. In 1909, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto showed that ‘through any human society, in any age or country’, 20 per cent of the population owned 80 per cent of the wealth, and 20 per cent of that 20 per cent owned 80 per cent of that 80 per cent, and so on. According to this 80:20 power law, the top 0.6 per cent of the population should own 38.4 per cent of the wealth. According to the January 2019 OECD figures, the top 0.6 per cent of the world’s population owns 39.3 per cent of the world’s wealth!" (Introduction, 26)
1) THE AKKADIAN EMPIRE (13-35)
2) THE ROMAN EMPIRE (37-58)
3) THE UMAYYAD AND ABBASID CALIPHATES (59-79)
4) THE MONGOL EMPIRE (81-103)
5) THE YUAN DYNASTY (105-125)
6) THE AZTEC EMPIRE (127-151)
7) THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (153-177)
8) THE BRITISH EMPIRE (179-195)
9) THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE (197-218)
10) THE AMERICAN EMPIRE (219-239)
Quote = "... ‘the end of capitalism’ has been predicted since we first recognised its existence --- generally agreed to have been around 500 years ago. Yet still it persists, in its latest adaptive form.This was the economic engine that lifted much of the world out of poverty, at the same time exploiting most those who benefitted from it least. According to the biblical adage attributed to Christ: ‘The poor are always with us.’ So, it seems, are the filthy rich!" (Chapter 10, 236)
Quote = "The claim that ‘the world is going to the dogs' has a... lengthy pedigree, being one of the earliest secular inscriptions deciphered from Ancient Egypt. Another unpalatable fact was revealed in the 19th century by the English economist, Reverend Robert Malthus, who reluctantly proved that the world's population would inevitably outgrow its ability to feed itself. Yet in the words of Charles Dickens' character, Mr. Micawber: ‘Something will turn up.' And so it did. The world learned how to produce more food." (Chapter 10, 237)
Quote = "No little part in this transformation was played by the great German chemist, Fritz Haber, who discovered how to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen gas, thus revolutionizing the manufacture of fertilizers. However, Haber eluded canonization by also creating poisonous gas for use in Warfare. Humanity's transformations have almost invariably emerged from left field. Accidents (such as Fleming's discovery of penicillin), a pig-headed refusal to accept the ‘facts' (Remember, Pasteur: ‘Chance favors the prepared mind'), as well as the genius flash of inspiration (For example, Archimedes' discovery of the buoyancy principle: 'Eureka!'), and many such discoveries, have all played their part in changing the course of history in utterly unforeseen fashion." (Chapter 10, 237)
Quote = "The latest of these life-changers is perhaps the computer-driven IT revolution. Just 30 years ago, people walking down the street talking animatedly to themselves, or believing it necessary to transmit their every passing thought for approval/disapproval by a host of imaginary friends, were liable to be escorted into care for their own good. Now they are simply part of social media." (Chapter 10, 237)
Quote = "The latest candidate for ‘The End of the World' (the catastrophe that will destroy our planet) is global warming. In my youth, it was a nuclear holocaust: few of us believed we would live until we were sixty. There has always been the argument: ‘Ah, but this time it's different.' This expression of wish-fulfilment has most frequently been employed by optimistic well-informed financiers during a prolonged bull market, when faced by nay-sayers predicting a crash that will destroy the world economy." (Chapter 10, 237-238)
Quote = "Democracy is a recipe for short-term-ism, and such governments are unlikely to implement collectively all the drastic solutions required to reverse global warming. Alternatives for the survival of our species, such as emigration to Mars, are more a matter between Elon Musk and his psychiatrist. Miracles such as cold fusion and massive powerful carbon dioxide absorbents have long been awaited." (Chapter 10, 238)
Quote = "The saving miracle, if it arrives, will be the biblical cloud ‘no bigger than a hand's span', which may even now be materializing just beyond the left field of our vision. As for future great empires, and the world geo-political picture... This may not be as harsh as the continuous warfare envisaged by George Orwell in his dystopian novel 1984; but it is more than possible that he accurately foresaw its empires and their competing spheres of influence. He posited three: Oceania (including the Americas, Australia, southern Africa and Britain), Eurasia (stretching from Portugal to the Pacific) and East Asia (a westward expanded China). Is it inevitable that one of these will emerge as the dominant power?" (Chapter 10, 238)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (241-242)
PICTURE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (243)
SOURCES AND REFERENCES (245-252)
INDEX (253-262)
AUTHOR NOTES, SUMMARY,
AND BOOK DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR NOTES = Paul Strathern is the author of several novels, including A Season in Abyssinia, which won a Somerset Maugham prize. Also he has a Ph.D. in Mathematics and Philosophy and lectures at Kingston University. His nonfiction books include: the Venetians; Death in Florence; The Medici; The Borgias; Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest for the Elements; and Empire: A New History of the Wrld. Strathern is best known for his two series of 39 short biographies about major philosophers and scientists: "Philosophers In 90 Minutes". He lives in England. -- Bowker Author Biography.
SUMMARY = The book charts the ten major empires of human civilization. It is a dazzling new comprehensive and inspiring history of the world.
BOOK DESCRIPTION = Eminent historian Paul Strathern opens the history of Empire with the Akkadian civilization, which ruled over a vast expanse of the region of ancient Mesopotamia, then turns to the immense Roman Empire, where we trace back our Western and Eastern roots. Next the narrative describes how a great deal of Western Classical culture was developed in the Abbasid and Umayyad Caliphates. Then, while Europe was beginning to emerge from a period of cultural stagnation, it almost fell to a whirlwind invasion from the East, at which point we meet the Emperors of the Mongol Empire..."
The book combines breathtaking scope with masterful narrative control. Strathern traces these connections across five millennia and sheds new light on these major civilizations. He covers from the Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty to the Aztec and Ottoman, through to the most recent and biggest empires: the British, Russo-Soviet, and American.
EDITORIAL BOOK REVIEW
BOOKLIST REVIEW = The author of The Medici (2016) and The Borgias (2019) tackles in 10 breezy chapters (one per empire) the immodest task of briefly recapitulating the history of the world. The Akkadian is followed by the Roman Empire, about which Strathern seems ambivalent. This is followed by the Ummayad and Abassid (Islamic) Caliphates, following the birth of Muhammad in the sixth century. Despite the division between Shiites and Sunnis, the effects of which are still manifest, this was a period of extraordinary discoveries in the sciences. It was followed by the brutal Khans from Genghis to Kublai and the Yuan in what is today China.
Through a process that Strathern dubs "sideways history," there were simultaneous notable advances in currency (paper money), art, and armaments. The Aztec Empire importantly introduced corn (maize) as a crop, and the last old style empire, the Ottoman, made further advances in food preparation and architecture. He concludes with the British Empire --- and its role in the expansion of slavery, the Russian Empire, and the period of American preeminence, about which he is playful though cautious. The book provides a valuable overview emphasizing the ebb and flow of history. – Mark Levine.
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