Eight Eurocentric Historians

by Blaut, J. M.

• ISBN13: 9781572305915
• ISBN10: 1572305916
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-08-10
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

This volume examines and critiques the work of a diverse group of Eurocentric historians who have strongly shaped our understanding of world history. Building upon the foundations laid in his previous book, The Colonizer's Model of the World, which provided a systematic overview of the nature and evolution of Eurocentrism, Blaut focuses in depth on Max Weber, Lynn White, Jr., Robert Brenner, Eric L. Jones, Michael Mann, John A. Hall, Jared Diamond, and David Landes. The role of each of these thinkers in generating colonialist understandings of history is described, and the fallacious assumptions at the roots of their arguments are revealed. Working toward an alternative understanding of the origins of modernity, this clearly written book provides invaluable insights and tools for students and scholars of history, geography, sociology, anthropology, and postcolonialism.

Author Biography

J. M. Blaut is Professor of Geography at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Eight Eurocentric Historians is the second volume in a projected trilogy bearing the title "The Colonizer's Model of the World." Professor Blaut's previous publications include Volume 1 of the trilogy, The Colonizer's Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Eurocentric History	1	(18)
Eurocentric Diffusionism	3	(5)
The Rise of Europe	8	(4)
The Project	12	(1)
The Historians	13	(4)
Notes	17	(2)
Western Rationality	19	(12)
Max Weber
Rationality	19	(2)
Oriental Depotism	21	(3)
``Only in the West...''	24	(5)
Notes	29	(2)
Inventive Europeans	31	(14)
Lynn White, Jr
A Medieval Agricultural Revolution	32	(6)
Technological Inventiveness	38	(1)
Technology, Ecology, Rationality, Religion	39	(3)
Notes	42	(3)
The Tunnel of Time	45	(28)
Robert Brenner
Euro-Marxism	45	(3)
Brenner's Theory	48	(16)
Neo-Weberian Euro-Marxism	64	(1)
Other Views	65	(3)
Notes	68	(5)
The European Miracle	73	(40)
Eric L. Jones
Devices	75	(2)
``The Quality of Europeanness''	77	(6)
Technology	83	(7)
Expansionism	90	(2)
The Free Market Economy	92	(2)
States and Nations	94	(8)
Primitive Africa	102	(2)
Barbarous Asia	104	(4)
Growth Recurring	108	(1)
Notes	109	(4)
The March of History	113	(15)
Michael Mann
``The Leading Edge''	114	(2)
``Rational Restlessness''	116	(6)
Westward Ho!	122	(4)
Notes	126	(2)
Democratic Europeans	128	(21)
John A. Hall
``Imperial China''	129	(4)
``The Land of the Brahmans''	133	(3)
``Islam and Pastoralism''	136	(4)
The Rise of Christian Europe	140	(6)
Notes	146	(3)
Euro-Environmentalism	149	(24)
Jared Diamond
Environmental Determinism	149	(2)
``A Natural Experiment''	151	(2)
Agriculture	153	(11)
Civilization	164	(1)
Europe and China	165	(6)
Notes	171	(2)
The Empire Strikes Back	173	(27)
David Landes
``Warm Winds and Gentle Rain''	174	(4)
A Uniquely Progressive Culture	178	(3)
The Inventors of Invention	181	(6)
Empire	187	(7)
A Summing-Up	194	(1)
Notes	195	(5)
Thirty Reasons Why Europeans Are Better Than Everyone Else (A Checklist)	200	(5)
Notes	204	(1)
The Model	205	(4)
Notes	208	(1)
Bibliography	209	(10)
Index	219
About the Author