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Gold Gato
, November 17, 2016
(view all comments by Gold Gato)
This was a real slow start for me. I was very excited to finally be reading Braudel, but it wasn't coming together for me for the first 100 or so pages. That made me feel like an outcast. Others enjoyed this history, why not moi? Perhaps because the history of the Mediterranean took a long time to unfold, but with the sudden end of the Bronze Age, everything started to gallop along.
So, overall I give it four stars because I struggled through the first third, but was completely enthralled by the remainder. Indeed, I was upset to discover the book ends with Braudel linking to a next series (to be written by someone else) which never took place. And I loved some of his thoughts. Why did the Industrial Revolution take place in England in the 18th Century? Could it have happened earlier, in the Mediterranean Age, if the migrating tribes hadn't upset the balance? Would we be flying around in personal jet cars now, if it had? So very interesting.
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