The Great Wave Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History

by Fischer, David Hackett

• ISBN13: 9780195053777
• ISBN10: 019505377X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-11-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

David Hackett Fischer, one of our most prominent historians, has garnered a reputation for making history come alive--even stories as familiar as Paul Revere's ride, or as complicated as the assimilation of British culture in North America. Now, in The Great Wave , Fischer has done it again, marshaling an astonishing array of historical facts in lucid and compelling prose to outline a history of prices--"the history of change," as Fischer puts it--covering the dazzling sweep of Western history from the medieval glory of Chartres to the modern day. Going far beyond the economic data, Fischer writes a powerful history of the people of the Western world: the economic patterns they lived in, and the politics, culture, and society that they created as a result. As he did in Albion's Seed and Paul Revere's Ride , two of the most talked-about history books in recent years, Fischer combines extensive research and meticulous scholarship with wonderfully evocative writing to create a book for scholars and general readers alike. Records of prices are more abundant than any other quantifiable data, and span the entire range of history, from tables of medieval grain prices to the overabundance of modern statistics. Fischer studies this wealth of data, creating a narrative that encompasses all of Western culture. He describes four waves of price revolutions, each beginning in a period of equilibrium: the High Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and finally the Victorian Age. Each revolution is marked by continuing inflation, a widening gap between rich and poor, increasing instability, and finally a crisis at the crest of the wave that is characterized by demographic contraction, social and political upheaval, and economic collapse. The most violent of these climaxes was the catastrophic fourteenth century, in which war, famine, and the Black Death devastated the continent--the only time in Europe's history that the population actually declined. Fischer also brilliantly illuminates how these long economic waves are closely intertwined with social and political events, affecting the very mindset of the people caught in them. The long periods of equilibrium are marked by cultural and intellectual movements--such as the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Victorian Age-- based on a belief in order and harmony and in the triumph of progress and reason. By contrast, the years of price revolution created a melancholy culture of despair. Fischer suggests that we are living now in the last stages of a price revolution that has been building since the turn of the century. The destabilizing price surges and declines and the diminished expectations the United States has suffered in recent years--and the famines and wars of other areas of the globe--are typical of the crest of a price revolution. He does not attempt to predict what will happen, noting that "uncertainty about the future is an inexorable fact of our condition." Rather, he ends with a brilliant analysis of where we might go from here and what our choices are now. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned about the state of the world today.

Author Biography

David Hackett Fischer is Warren Professor of History at Brandeis University. He has won numerous awards for scholarship and teaching, including the Carnegie Prize as Massachusetts Teacher of the Year in 1991. His books include the highly acclaimed Paul Revere's Ride and Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
``Something Like a Seismograph,''	xiii
Introduction	3	(1)
Great Waves in World History	3	(8)
The First Wave	11	(54)
The Medieval Price Revolution	17	(18)
The Crisis of the Fourteenth Century	35	(10)
The Equilibrium of the Renaissance	45	(20)
The Second Wave	65	(52)
The Price Revolution of the Sixteenth Century	70	(21)
The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century	91	(11)
The Equilibrium of the Enlightenment	102	(15)
The Third Wave	117	(62)
The Price Revolution of the Eighteenth Century	120	(22)
The Revolutionary Crisis	142	(14)
The Equilibrium of the Victorian Era	156	(23)
The Fourth Wave	179	(56)
The Price Revolution of the Twentieth Century	181	(22)
The Troubles of Our Time	203	(32)
CONCLUSION	235	(82)
From the Past to the Future	235	(24)
APPENDICES
A. Price Revolutions in the Ancient World	259	(6)
B. The Crisis of the Fourteenth Century: A World Movement?	265	(4)
C. The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century: A Global Event?	269	(2)
D. America and Europe: One Conjuncture or Two?	271	(2)
E. Cycles and Waves	273	(5)
F. Toward a Discrimination of Inflations	278	(4)
G. Money of Exchange and Money of Account	282	(3)
H. Nominal Prices and Silver Equivalents	285	(2)
I. Returns to Capital: Interest Rates as Historical Indicators	287	(1)
J. Returns to Labor: Real Wages and Standards of Living	288	(3)
K. Measures of Wealth and Income Distribution	291	(2)
L. Price Revolutions and Inequality	293	(8)
M. Price Revolutions and Family Disintegration	301	(4)
N. Price Revolutions and Personal Violence	305	(8)
O. Economics and History	313	(4)
NOTES	317	(46)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	363	(140)
Primary Sources for the History of Prices	365	(41)
Secondary Sources	406	(97)
Acknowledgments	503	(4)
Credits	507	(2)
Index	509