Unlocking the World: Port Cities and Globalization in the Age of Steam, 1830-1930

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John Darwin

Unlocking the World

Port Cities and Globalization in the Age of Steam, 1830-1930

John Darwin

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Paperback

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English

Penguin
17 May 2022

History; General & world history; British & Irish history; Maritime history; Globalization

The dramatic story of how steam power reshaped our cities and our seas, and forged a new world order

Steam power transformed our world. It revolutionized work and production, but also the ease and cost of movement over land and water. The result was to throw open vast areas of the world to the rampaging expansion of Europeans and Americans on a scale previously unimaginable.

Unlocking the World is the captivating history of the great port cities which emerged as the bridgeheads of this new steam-driven economy, reshaping not just the trade and industry of the regions around them but their culture and politics as well. They were the agents of what we now call 'globalization', but their impact and influence, and the reactions they provoked, were far from predictable. Nor were they immune to the great upheavals in world politics across the 'steam century'.

This book is global history at its very best. Packed with fascinating case histories (from New Orleans to Montreal, Bombay to Singapore, Calcutta to Shanghai), individual stories and original ideas, Darwin's book allows us, for better or worse, to see the modern age taking shape.

By: John Darwin
Imprint: Penguin
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 21mm
Weight: 340g
ISBN: 9781846140877
ISBN 10: 1846140870
Pages: 496
Publication Date: 17 May 2022
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

John Darwin was until his retirement last year Professor of Imperial and Global History at the University of Oxford. He is the author of After Tamerlane, Unfinished Empire and The Empire Project.

Reviews for Unlocking the World: Port Cities and Globalization in the Age of Steam, 1830-1930

Striking ... The work underlines how the past 50 years' surge of globalisation has built on the previous wave that started nearly 200 years ago ... A compelling picture of the societies that drove steam globalisation. -- Robert Wright * Financial Times * In the great opening up of the world that is his subject, the port cities were the hinges ... an enjoyable synthesis of a large body of scholarship. * The Economist * A fine, important and original book ... wonderful. -- Paul Kennedy * Literary Review *