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Description
This book is the culmination of 15 years of research and travels that have taken the author completely around the world twice, as well as on other travels in the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and around the Pacific rim. Its purpose has been to try to understand the role of cultural differences within nations and between nations, today and over centuries of history, in shaping the economic and social fates of peoples and of whole civilizations. Focusing on four major cultural areas(that of the British, the Africans (including the African diaspora), the Slavs of Eastern Europe, and the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere—Conquests and Cultures reveals patterns that encompass not only these peoples but others and help explain the role of cultural evolution in economic, social, and political development.
About the Author
Thomas Sowell has taught economics at a number of colleges and universities, including Cornell, University of California Los Angeles, and Amherst. He has published both scholarly and popular articles and books on economics, and is currently a scholar in residence at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
“A masterpiece of research and thought.”
— St. Clair Missourian
“Marshalling an impressive array of substantive information, Sowell argues that the destinies of all human societies, from ethnic minorities to dominant civilizations, depend on their accrued cultural capital, not race or genes. Such cultural capital is the product of historical circumstances, geographic influences, and social energy. Focusing on four cases—Britain, Black Africa, Slavic Eastern Europe, and Native America—the author explicates the fortunes of the winners and the fates of the losers as a conquest is followed by subjugation and cultural capital is built and lost.”
— H. J. de Blij, Marshall University
“Thomas Sowell is, in my opinion, the most original and interesting philosopher at work in America. I have learned a great deal from him and his new book is full of insights and wisdom.”
— Paul Johnson, author of Modern Times
“This impressive historical study by Thomas Sowell takes a different slice at history than the usual study and by doing so provides us with new insights into the complex process of societal evolution. He explores the way the conquest of one people by another has shaped our past and present from the Roman conquest of Britain to the late Soviet Empire. Sometimes the result has been to culturally enrich the conquered society; at other times the conqueror has destroyed much of the culture and human capital. The perspective derived from this approach not only makes sense out of a lot of history but serves as the basis for a thoughtful reexamination of many of our contemporary social issues.”
— Douglass North, Nobel Laureate in Economics
“In Conquests and Cultures the third and final volume of his brilliant trilogy, historian Thomas Sowell once again demonstrates why the is one of America’s most highly regarded original thinkers.”
— Carlo W. D’Este, military historian
“Here is an illuminating book on a theme in human history that is vast and perplexing. Thomas Sowell’s narrative is lucid and fluent, his use of analogy is arresting, his sense of proportion is impressive and his weighing of the causes and effects is calm and often courageous.”
— Geoffrey Blainey, University of Melbourne
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