Globalization: A Short History

by Jürgen Osterhammel and Niels P. Petersson

Book Overview

"Globalization" has become a popular buzzword for explaining today's world. The expression achieved terminological stardom in the 1990s and was soon embraced by the general public and integrated into numerous languages.

But is this much-discussed phenomenon really an invention of modern times? In this work, J?rgen Osterhammel and Niels Petersson make the case that globalization is not so new, after all. Arguing that the world did not turn...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691133956
• ISBN13: 9780691133959
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent history book for experts and laypeople

This excellent short book by German historians Jürgen Osterhammel and Niels P. Petersson provides a fascinating, accessible sketch of the development of globalization. The authors bridge the gap between academic historians and general readers. While they discuss, in summary, issues of terminology and research primarily of interest to the former, they do not lose the latter. Many will be surprised to learn that at least part of the foundation of globalization as we know it may have been laid as early as the thirteenth-century Mongolian empire. The authors divide the history of globalization into four major phases, and offer provocative insights into the forces at work in each phase. At a time when many people believe that the term "globalization" connotes an entirely new world condition, this book is an indispensable corrective. We recommend it to history buffs, journalists, and employees and executives at international companies.