The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1987)

This is an interesting work to compare and contrast to Niall Ferguson's work, in particular, his Civilization.

A solid, moderate, broad history of the interplay of economics, geography, politics, personality, chance, and other factors that have led to the rise and fall of empires and the shaping of the modern geopolitical world. A little West-centric, but, then again, so was the process itself, for better and worse. ( )

2243 The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000, by Paul Kennedy (read 5 Nov 1989) This is one of the most impressive books I have ever read. The author is a Yale professor who was born in the north of England and educated at the University of Newcastle and at Oxford. The book covers Strategy and Economics since 1500 and the last two chapters ("Stability and Change in a Bipolar World, 1943-1980" and "To the 21st Century" I thought the most thought-provoking and well-reasoned of anything I have ever read. I would be extremely interested in what the author thinks of the very exciting things going on in Russia and East Europe today--a situation filled with unbelievable hope. The earlier part of the book was very heavy on economic history, but the book got better and better as I read along. Truly a great reading experience. ( )

This is not the end to all history ! ( )