Audiobook6 hours
Empires of the Weak: The Real Story of European Expansion and the Creation of the New World
Written by J. C. Sharman
Narrated by John Lee
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
What accounts for the rise of the state, the creation of the first global system, and the dominance of the West? The conventional answer asserts that superior technology, tactics, and institutions forged by Darwinian military competition gave Europeans a decisive advantage in war over other civilizations from 1500 onward. In contrast, Empires of the Weak argues that Europeans actually had no general military superiority in the early modern era. J. C. Sharman shows instead that European expansion is better explained by deference to strong Asian and African polities, disease in the Americas, and maritime supremacy earned by default because local land-oriented polities were largely indifferent to war and trade at sea.
Europeans were overawed by the mighty Eastern empires of the day, which pioneered key military innovations and were the greatest early modern conquerors. Against the view that the Europeans won for all time, Sharman contends that the imperialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was a relatively transient and anomalous development in world politics that concluded with Western losses in various insurgencies. If the twenty-first century is to be dominated by non-Western powers like China, this represents a return to the norm for the modern era.
Europeans were overawed by the mighty Eastern empires of the day, which pioneered key military innovations and were the greatest early modern conquerors. Against the view that the Europeans won for all time, Sharman contends that the imperialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was a relatively transient and anomalous development in world politics that concluded with Western losses in various insurgencies. If the twenty-first century is to be dominated by non-Western powers like China, this represents a return to the norm for the modern era.
Related to Empires of the Weak
Related audiobooks
How the Old World Ended: The Anglo-Dutch-American Revolution 1500-1800 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ever-Changing Past: Why All History is Revisionist History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Useful Enemies: Islam and The Ottoman Empire in Western Political Thought, 1450-1750 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/51177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed: Revised and Updated Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unfabling the East: The Enlightenment's Encounter with Asia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhose Middle Ages?: Teachable Moments for an Ill-Used Past Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community; with a Retrospective Essay Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Defense of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History and Morality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA People's History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millennium Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pax Transatlantica: America and Europe in the post-Cold War Era 1st Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hundred Years War: A People's History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Golden Rhinoceros: Histories of the African Middle Ages Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Atlantic Wars: From the Fifteenth Century to the Age of Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alaric the Goth: An Outsider's History of the Fall of Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Walls: A History of Civilization in Blood and Brick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Republics: A Continental History of the United States 1783-1850 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of Cromwell's Protectorate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Isles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Politics For You
The Prince Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Behold a Pale Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Can't Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The MAGA Diaries: My Surreal Adventures Inside the Right-Wing (And How I Got Out) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Small Mercies: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Empires of the Weak
Rating: 3.846153923076923 out of 5 stars
4/5
13 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Appreciated the premise of the book but his presentation left much to be desired. Spent much of the book talking about what he was going to say.