Felipe Fernandez-Armesto’s book, Millennium, is a world history that reevaluates the relative importance of events, people and trends that are traditionally emphasized in the past thousand years. Perhaps the most unique and effective technique that Armesto utilizes is the broad and detached focus that he employs through his galactic museum-keepers. These imaginary beings allow Armesto to transcend the temptations of deterministic or teleological language. They also lay the foundation for a critical re-evaluation of the past thousand years on a neutral basis without regard for traditional grand-narratives or widely believed edifices like the hegemony of Western Civilization. The relative importance of events are easily re-conceptualized and re-evaluated with the galactic museum-keepers, kind of scary and omnipresent in my imagination, in Armesto’s back pocket. Armesto is like a master magician pulling a white bunny out of his hat whenever the audience needs to be reminded of the narrative focus.

The beauty of the book however, is Armesto’s ability to simultaneously persuade readers to take a birds-eye view of the world from high in the sky while seamlessly enticing readers to dive down through the clouds and “[picture] the past in significant details rather than bold strokes.” It is the unity of the two approaches that allows readers to see both the diverse differences between different locales over time but also make significant interconnections throughout the text. Armesto contends that anybody can create different patterns and interconnections in the past but “my criteria are of convenience, not of value.” His statement makes sense alongside his anti-determinist tact and his outlook of the past thousand years as shifts of initiative amongst different civilizations. Armesto broadly tracks the shift of initiative over time by their association with the different seas: from the China Sea and Mediterranean to the Atlantic and finally the Pacific.

Although the shifts of initiative seem similar to the story Arrighi tells in The Long Twentieth Century with hegemonic regions of capitalist initiative, Armesto explains these shifts not as patterns, laws or economic structural change. Each shit of initiative and story is understood in its own context and in its own way. However, there is a common thread that binds the shifts together, “the relative performance of rival cultures depends on the self-perceptions and mutual perceptions of the peoples concerned.” Empires are often undermined by talking themselves into decline. The “course of history is influenced less by events as they happen than by the constructions-often fanciful, often false-which people put on them.

Whereas Chris Harman in his book, A People’s History of the World, mostly talks about groups of people, Armesto shows the importance of individuals in shaping history. That said, Millenium is not a typical “great-man history” because it is not just highlighting various Europeans but shedding light on largely unknown individuals who are largely non-European. This is exemplified in the very beginning of the book in chapter 1 by the focus on Lady Murasaki Shikibu and her novel The Tale of Genji. Armesto uses Shikibu’s to show how the Japanese secular elite society were characterized by sensuality, peace and delicacy of feeling around the beginning of the eleventh century. Armesto contrasts Japanese elite culture with Christendom during the same time (around year 1000) where noble hoodlums and aristocratic thuggery had to be checked by the church. The Japanese culture is then compared with others around the same time, including Islamic Civilization, in order to dispel the notion of Japanese isolationism excluding their use as an example. Thus, Armesto expertly grabs the reader’s attention right from the start and lays the foundation and pattern that the rest of the book follows. Armesto also expertly uses cultural and societal specificities to compare and contrast differences between people of different groups across space and time. Harman on the other hand tended to follow a singular theme of mass exploitation throughout history and often failed to give texture to the varying existing conditions that groups encountered across the globe. The groups he addresses often come off as caricatures.

Another difference between the two authors is how Harman’s polemic almost seeps through the text to leave a stain that blots every page. An explicit polemic argument is not necessarily harmful in a history text but it does change the tone of the book and in many ways makes it harder to convince readers. This is because the general reading public, for which both books were published, desire answers and objective truths. They are accustomed to receiving knowledge on a daily basis that is supposedly, “Fair and Balanced,” or “Balanced News You Can Count On.” Thus, readers who are not true believers in whatever polemic being espoused are likely to be suspicious when confronting a book like Harman’s with a clear theoretical argument emblazoned on the cover. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is able to hide his political beliefs throughout the text until the epilogue when he consciously chooses to espouse his beliefs in predicting the future.

Armesto’s command of the narrative is intoxicating at time but its structure might be disconcerting to non-academic readers. Armesto’s choice of unusual stories instead of traditional ones can be quite jarring and possibly incomprehensible to readers without a basic grasp of traditional world history. Armesto pulls up the anchor for the book and takes readers across the oceans to visit strange and previously unknown locales. While seductively enthralling, readers without a solid background in historical knowledge are apt to be confused by not seeing familiar shores and identifiable stories. Armesto is revising history in a different way than Harman. Harman’s voyage visits all the big and traditional historical locales. Readers find comfort gazing out from the Harman’s boat because they know the scenery. Harman attempts to shock them out of their malaise by giving them socialist colored shades to view the scenery and stories anew. Armesto never needs any shades because he takes readers to far off locales that make his argument by their mere presence and scenery that illustrates the use of impressionistic evidence to prove Armesto’s argument that Western world hegemony was not inevitable or nearly as enduring as many think.

Armesto is able to take readers to foreign cultures not only though his excellent control of the narrative but with visual representations as well. This is not the first book this semester that has utilized visual aides to complement the narrative. Mike Davis’ book, Late Victorian Holocausts, also used pictures to show the exploitation of native people by the British. In fact, Mike Davis’ use of pictures is similar to Armesto’s because both authors use the visuals as more than simple illustrations of the text. The use of pictures in both texts is central to the arguments being made. Mike Davis uses grisly photos of native famine victims as accusations against British colonial rule. Similarly, Armesto uses the pictures as impressionistic evidence. A great example is when Armesto uses photos of John Brown and Thomas Jefferson’s houses to illustrate the conflicting character of American aristocracy. As Armesto says, “The point could best be proved by textual analysis but is best illustrated by a look at Thomas Jefferson’s strange country house.” Furthermore, each picture or photo has an accompanying caption that is incredibly detailed and often offers even more analysis than the text. In fact, in many sections it is possible to “read” the text solely through the illustrations and the accompanying captions. The narrative and visual aids allow readers to abscond and see, taste, smell and hear the events and locales visited in Millennium. Getting lost at sea on Armesto’s boat is truly a once in a lifetime experience and one where a three-hour tour just isn’t long enough.

The Terrible Crime of Jaywalking

Felipe Fernandez- Armesto has the GREATEST accent ever. I watched the video and I don't really remember what he said because I was too enthralled by his accent. If I was at a conference listening to him I would need more than a fork to stop me from laughing I'll tell you that much.



I don't know, the accent loses something in spanish.

Africa is Way Hard!

This might be one of the best clips from the show.

1. The kid is really good. Africa is definitely the hardest continent to tackle and it seems like the names of some countries change every other day.

2. He has the choice of going anywhere and he chooses Arizona! As a native Arizonan he will forever have my admiration. If it was a trip in the summer he has my pity.

Chris Harman Speaks!

Video seems like it is pretty new and from a year ago. Interesting to hear what he has to say about contemporary issues after reading his book!

The People's Choice?

Chris Harman’s book, A People’s History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millennium, is a world history intended for public consumption. While that seems like an awkward introduction, keeping the intended audience in mind is essential in order to appreciate the merits of the book. Harman uses Marxist theory to craft a history of the world from below. Harman makes sure to avoid the sometimes overly narrow and isolated focus of history from the bottom approaches by making important interconnections between events, trends and people.
The political underpinnings and intent of the book are overtly addressed throughout the text. The title of his book proudly proclaims his socialist allegiance of A People’s History while the narrative often focuses on the continual process of exploitation of the masses by those who control the means and modes of production. Harman uses the past to tell, “about the sequence of events that led to the lives we lead today…understanding it is the key to finding out if and how we can further change the world in which we live.” Harman’s statement in itself is not that revolutionary or contradictory to the texts that many historians produce. Most historians research topics that they think are important. In fact, a basic question that should be addressed before tackling a project is, “why is this important?” In fact, constructing a world history with a contemporary goal in mind is exactly what global historian Bruce Mazlich advocates. Mazlich defines global history as an approach with a clear political agenda and resulting policy implications in mind.
Harman’s narrative is incredibly effective not only throughout the main part of the book detailing historical events but in the introduction and the conclusion. The introduction brings up many historiographical issues that are relayed with amazing ease for a general reading public to read and understand. For instance, Harman subtly defends his polemic argument and call to contemporary action in the introduction when he brings up issues of usable history. This argument echoes Jeremy Black’s assertion that nation states desire a cohesive national myth that presents a useable history easily comprehensible and accessible by its citizens. By brining up ideas of useable history and historical authority Harman is able to convince readers from the start that the met-narratives that they know are perhaps not totally true or the product of the ruling class. This ensures that his arguments are not dismissed out of hand early in the text and in addition the idea of learning new historical facts that contradict allegedly fabricated useable history is an effective hook.
Another interesting point that Harman brings up in the introduction is that, “‘Human nature’ as we know it today is a product of our history, not its cause.” This is an essential argument in Harman’s book and helps intrigue and captivate readers from the very beginning in Part I: The Rise of Class Societies. Harman follows through on his assertion throughout the narrative by illustrating the lack of societies based on “competition, inequality and oppression,” in the past and how these traits were gradually developed through political, social and commercial structures that allowed ruling elites to control the means of production.
Harman’s explicit use of Marxist social theory throughout his text does not exclude the book from belonging with other academic world histories. According to Alun Munslow, Chris Harman seemingly fits quite well into the second historical epistemology as a constructionist. “The constructionist…opts for a self-consciously social-scientific and theory laden style that practitioners believe produces the most likely meaning of the past. ... [finding] the underling structural character of historical change.” As a constructionist, Harman utilizes Marxist theory to reveal to readers, “the general pattern that has led to the present. It was Karl Marx who provided an insight into this general pattern.” The constructionist nature of Harman’s book makes it appealing as a public history in contrast to a deconstructionist interpretation. This is because it offers a definitive past and not a qualified and sometimes complex historical rendering typical of deconstructionist history. The major pitfall in crafting a constructionist history for the public is the use of theoretical arguments. However, Harman does an admirable job not overindulging in Marxist theory and instead hinting at socialist arguments through his historical examples throughout the narrative. In fact, Harman demonstrates that a constructionist approach with an effective narrative is most likely the best approach for writing a popular history. Whereas a reconstructionist approach satisfies readers with definitive answers, it does not necessarily provoke interest because the lack of a prominent argument, implicit in a constructionist approach.
In many ways Chris Harman’s book was a nice complement to the ideas and evidence put forth by Mike Davis and Giovanni Arrighi. For instance, Harman echoes Mike Davis’ argument about the real causes of widespread famines when he criticizes ruling class exploitation and its devastating implications, “At that point it only required a slight change in climate for people to starve and society to shake to its core.” Chris Harman’s assertion rings true after reading about the colonial exploitation of the British in India, China and Brasil in Mike Davis’ book. Davis’ argument that the western imperial powers in the nineteenth century were responsible for the creation of the “third world,” resonates with Harman’s assertion of a pattern of exploitation by the ruling classes over the masses. Davis focuses on the British and their colonial exploitations but Harman takes the idea of exploitation and ambitiously maps its history from the beginning of humankind to the present. Harman thus extends Davis’ argument to other parts of the world and across time to see similar exploitation practiced by other civilizations. For instance, Harman uses Africa to demonstrate British ruling class exploitation with slavery. The slave trade provided immense wealth to involved ruling elites while undermining African societies and helping create militaristic African regimes that still dominate the continent to this day.
Harman also complements Arrighi’s book, The Long Twentieth Century, quite well. An important part of Harman’s book is a Marxist critique of capitalism as the latest structure in which the ruling class exploits the masses. Unlike Arrighi’s broad perspective, Harman looks at the market interactions that illustrate human exploitation due to capitalism. Harman also uses his search for historical patterns to reveal the part revolutions and the masses behind them played in the formation of market-based economies, “Like the Dutch, English and American revolutions before it, the French Revolution had cut away the great obstacles inherited from the past to a fully market based society.” The most interesting connection between Arrighi and Harman is their conclusions about the future of capitalism. Arrighi is uncertain if any individual state might be able to construct a more complex and bigger foundation for a future systemic cycle of accumulation or if a conglomerate of multi-national organizations or some type of world government might be the ultimate successors to the US cycle of accumulation. Harman on the other hand also suggests the collapse of capitalism but more along the lines of a Marxist interpretation with an organized rising of the masses. The conclusions reveal the purpose of each book. While Arrighi’s text is a cautionary tale about the future of US global economic hegemony and capitalism in large, Harman’s is a call to action against the continuing pattern of exploitation that has continually afflicted human history.
Harman’s book falls short as a scholarly world history in several ways but not necessarily because of Harman’s call to action. Many of these are technical and understandable, like the lack of footnotes, due to the intended audience and nature of the text. Others are a little worrying like the use of dated sources and small factual missteps interspersed in the narrative. That said, the narrative flow of the history is exemplary and the un-academic medium allows Harman to express opinions that simultaneously differentiates his book from academic scholarship while also appealing to a general public audience. For instance when Harman characterizes the Crusaders as, “a bunch of robbers gathered under the direction of religious fanatics,” he is making overly simplistic characterizations that might offend historians but which enliven and paint vivid pictures and understandings for readers.
The one world history that we have read this year that seemingly straddles the line between public world history and academic scholarship is Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis. Davis also writes with a powerful polemic in mind but differs in its delivery. While Harman often conveys his views in the text, Davis does so through powerful evidence. Davis’ evidence is conveyed through stories, statistics and perhaps most importantly, pictures. The fact that the pictures are, “intended as accusations not illustrations,” does not diminish their impact.
While perhaps not up to Mike Davis’ standards in terms of satisfying historians’ demands, Harman’s work should be appreciated immensely for delivering to its intended audience. The ten printings is evidence that the widespread reading public enjoys good narrative. More importantly, while historians often produce works that create more questions than they answer, Harman’s book satiates readers with clear-cut answers. Also important, Harman does not overly complicate an early dichotomy that he establishes between the poor masses and the rich controllers of the means of production. By conveying an easily understood hero and villain construct throughout the text, and ultimately history, Harman persuades readers to take up the cause of the historically downtrodden masses and help realize their heroic triumph.

Continuing the Carmen Sandiego & Beatles Marriage

The Rockapellas are awesome

Money, Money, Money!

Giovanni Arrighi’s book, The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times, is an economic world history that focuses on capitalism as a cycle of accumulation. Arrighi looks at the last six hundred years or so and breaks down the establishment of capitalism into different phases of systemic cycles of accumulation. Each cycle is characterized by a hegemonic entity that rises to prominence and becomes the center of the capitalistic world economy for commerce and capital consumption. Arrighi conceptualizes the cycles of accumulation as a realization of “Marx’s general formula of capital (MCM’) [which] can therefore be interpreted as depicting not just the logic of individual capitalist investments, but also a recurrent pattern of historical capitalism as world system.” Arrighi credits “Braudel’s notion of financial expansions as closing phases of major capitalist developments” as an effective way to break up and recognize the rise and ebb of different systemic cycles of accumulation and their hegemonic leaders. The first capitalist hegemon is the Genoese in the fifteenth century followed by the Dutch, British and finally United States.
Each systemic cycle of accumulation takes place on a wider and enlarged scale. The rise of a new economic hegemonic world power necessarily entails a certain degree of restructuring and change in the capitalistic system but also maintains certain elements of the past. Arrighi points out this trend of going forward and backwards throughout the narrative when talking about each new cycle of accumulation. In addition, going backwards does not necessarily mean keeping an aspect of the past cycle but sometimes resurrecting aspects from systems farther in the past.
An important aspect of Arrighi’s book is its teleological nature. Arrighi admits as much at the very beginning of the book in his preface, “this book began almost fifteen years ago as a study of the world economic crisis of the 1970s. The crisis was conceptualized as the third and concluding moment of a single historical process…of the US system of capital accumulation on a world scale.” Arrighi gives further insight into contemporary economics and the United States’ place as world economic hegemon by looking to the past. Arrighi admits that “the only purpose of reconstructing the financial expansions of earlier centuries has been to deepen our understanding of the current financial expansion.”
As you can see, Arrighi’s book, although incredibly fascinating, is quite complex. Thus, how could you hope to teach its concepts and ideas to a class of undergraduate students? Thankfully, Arrighi’s teleological historical approach gives us an opening. In general, students are much more receptive to learning concepts and ideas that have a direct and obvious relevance to their own lives. Therefore, we can use Arrighi to understand our country’s place in the world economy and its role as world hegemon. Further, the country’s current financial crises can be evaluated from a historical standpoint. By analyzing the current crises certain terms and ideas, like signal and terminal crises, can be understood more clearly. The fact that Arrighi ends the book with more questions than answers, regarding the latest, and possibly last, systemic cycle of accumulation is an ideal jumping off point for discussion and rare personalization of historical processes and concepts.
However, other than simply reiterating Arrighi’s point that past cycle of accumulation have led to the United States’ current status as world economic hegemon, how can we further interest and engage students with the rest of Arrighi’s book and past cycles? An activity that seems ideally suited for teaching The Long Twentieth Century is the historical simulation. With complex subjects and ideas simulations can help build student understanding. Although students will need to have read Arrighi or at least excerpts in order to productively participate in a simulation, “the purpose of the activity is to enhance their understanding of a specific historical situation, so it is actually a good thing if they have not yet mastered the ideas or perspectives under discussion.”
The benefits of historical simulations are well documented. Other than providing an appreciated break from the bombardment of texts that typify undergraduate history classes, they encourage enthusiasm, focus attention and “provide a sense of power and competence that too often is lacking in adolescents’ daily lives.” Simulations encourage active participation instead of passive reception of historical concepts while allowing students to understand the past from the perspective of those who lived through the experiences. Interestingly, a historical simulation of the Genoese, Dutch or British cycle of accumulation could actually increase the importance of those past cycles in a teleological text. By simulating these past cycles of accumulation the class can supersede Arrighi’s modest role for them, to explain the current US cycle of accumulation, and show students that the past is not a “pale anticipation of the present, but a full-blooded reality as vivid and bright as the present.”
Each simulation also provides an ample opportunity to contrast Arrighi with different texts that can supplement their understanding. Arrighi’s book has a very broad perspective that allows readers to understand the large systems and structures at play with the rise and fall of different cycles of accumulation. However, due to this distant focus people rarely appear in the book and the human consequences of capitalistic exploitation and surplus accumulation are not addressed. These stories and events are obviously just as vital for a holistic understanding of world history. Thus, books like Mike Davis’ Late Victorian Holocausts, which document the horrors of British surplus exploitation as world economic hegemon, would be a great companion text to a historical simulation of the British led systemic cycle of accumulation. The reading of supplementary texts will only aid the simulations and deepen the “moral complexities of struggles over ideology and power,” while also gaining a deeper understanding for “the ambiguities of real historical decisions.”
Ideally, an upper level undergraduate class of around 30 students could run simulations concerning each systemic cycle of accumulation and have another class period to discuss their findings. However, time constraints obviously factor in and one simulation focusing on either the Genoese, Dutch or British cycles of accumulation should be sufficient. The US cycle of accumulation can be simulated but will be different than the rest because of the uncertain conclusion and termination crises phase. However, that can make the US cycle the most interesting because the teacher can really let student spontaneity flourish with no historical precedent to abide.
Contemporary articles can assist teaching the last section of Arrighi’s book about the current US dominated cycle of accumulation. For instance, Forbes magazine recently released an article detailing the financial losses that billionaires all over the world have suffered. They included a map that showed the percentage of billionaires lost by country but most interestingly, show the number of billionaires by country. Not surprisingly, especially after reading Arrigi, the United States still has 359 billionaires. No other country comes close. Here we get an incredibly powerful visual aid that supplements Arrighi’s text and in many ways validates his conclusions. The maps also bring up interesting questions concerning the possibility of China being the next world economic hegemon or if any nation-state is the most likely successor to the US. By looking at the map, China’s number of billionaires, 28 but another 19 in Hong Kong, suggest that they are still a decent distance away from eclipsing United States individual wealth and perhaps a conglomerate of multi-national organizations or some type of world government might be the ultimate successors to the US cycle of accumulation. No individual state might be able to construct a more complex and bigger foundation for a future cycle of accumulation.
Another example is a recent New York Times article points out connections between job desirability and the economy. With financial industries in trouble many college undergraduates are switching their majors from business and instead are looking forward to careers in public service or teaching. While potential job prospects obviously play a part in this trend an underlying factor is the associated prestige and feeling of worth associated in choices or a future profession. It is through articles like these that students can tighten the broad focus of Arrighi’s book and look how these large systemic cycles of accumulation impact the lives of people on the ground and most importantly, their own.