1688: A Global History

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	1688: A Global History
	by John E., Jr. Wills Sales Rank: 407474	$3.25 At Amazon on 6-20-2008.

*Features* Cover Type: Paperback with 352 pages Published by: W. W. Norton & Company January 2002 Written in: English ISBN 10 Number: 0393322785 ISBN 13 Number: 978-0393322781 Book Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches Weighs: 13.8 ounces *From Publishers Weekly* Although he realizes that "the very concept of the world in a single year is an artificial one," USC historian Wills (Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History; etc.) has merged cultural anthropology and history to reflect through the prism of a single year the shape of the world poised on the edge of modernity. This ambitious effort has a number of strengthsAsuch as the quality of its writing and its ability to weave together disparate narrative threads. But for many readers, this account's greatest strength will be what it is notAEurocentric, limited by gender and ethnicity, confined by class. It touches on events in Africa, the New World, China, Japan, Australia and eastern and western Europe. We go from the world of the Kangxi emperor in China to that of an African Muslim slave in the New World. In constructing this multifarious history, Wills draws on sources as diverse as the correspondence of far-flung Jesuit missionaries, the records of the Dutch and English trading companies, contemporary poetry, diaries and even a ketubah (a Jewish marriage contract). Wills thus succeeds in producing a vivid picture of life in 1688Aa picture filled with terrifying violence, frightening diseases and religious and political persecution, but also with comfortingly familiar human kindnesses, familial affections and the scientific and intellectual achievements of Leibniz, Locke and Newton, among others. Wills provides a satisfying, many-faceted tour of the world in 1688 that will appeal to readers with a far-ranging curiosity about the world and its history. Illus. not seen by PW. (Jan.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Booklist Wills invites history buffs and armchair adventurers to immerse themselves in the various social, political, and artistic contexts that existed in the year 1688. Offering a refreshing global perspective rather than an overworked Westernized viewpoint, the author has researched and related a wide range of fascinating true stories illustrating the developing links between cultures and nations. Taken individually, these tales from Russia, China, Japan, Africa, Europe, and the Americas provide tantalizing glimpses into a series of unique environments; analyzed collectively, they provide a panoramic view of a world poised on the brink of a major transformation. Stylish, anecdotal history chronicling the infancy of an interdependent global community. Margaret Flanagan Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. *Reader Reviews* John Wills has done a good job of presenting the whole world as it was in 1688. The coverage is necessarily incomplete--if Wills had identified every culture and conflict alive in that year there'd have been only a sentence on each. It's thorough even so, and by 1688 the world was truly a global network: the Spanish mining silver in Bolivia; the Dutch bloodily extracting spices from the Indonesian archipelagoes; the British making their first military probes into India. The Tsar of Russia visited London; there were Armenian traders in Lhasa, English scientists in Australia, and Jesuits almost everywhere. The coverage is so broad that Wills cannot do any one story real justice. He copes with this by picking specific narratives and telling them in detail, interspersing these stories among the general cultural and historical background. He covers the progress of the great religions, and literature and science as well as the struggles for empire -- this was the age of Locke, Leibniz and Newton, after all. And 1688 is a good choice for other reasons: the English Revolution of that year is the hook on which Wills hangs much material about the religious strife of the seventeenth century, for example. The writing is clear and transparent. The book's only real weak point is that nothing is described in much detail; nothing gets more than a few pages. The result is that when you've finished you feel more as if you'd been reading newspapers about the year than a history text. You don't feel you know these cultures in depth -- you know them the way a slightly educated contemporary might have known them: by reputation, with a few high points. However, I think that's a fine result for a book like this. It certainly made me want to read half a dozen more books to get more details. I don't think this is a good book to start with, though, if you don't already have some awareness of this period of history; it is not truly introductory for any of the cultures covered. For those interested, though, it is well able to whet your appetite for more. Comment \| \| (Report this) Back To Top
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