World History

The advent of the third millennium has produced more than a fair share of books which survey the previous, hundred, thousand or even ten thousand years. Many are merely reworkings of tired formulas, which add nothing to our knowledge or understanding. This, however, is far more interesting as a project in that the author invites us to refocus our perceptions of the human history of the world away from the conventional eurocentric approach. Any text that serves to undermine this smug eurocentrism and the underlying assumptions of (white) racial superiority implicit in so many world histories has to be welcomed. Ponting certainly argues coherently for a longer look at the continuities of history and a greater awareness of 'other' founts of political social, economic and cultural development, primarily in Asia. The basic thesis is succintly outlined in the introduction and the detailed structuring of the book and prioritizing of events and processes outside Europe and North America do give it a different feel. Ponting deals with the charge of making vast generalizations by arguing that all histories are a question of selection. True up to a point, but some of his generalizations and statements on the detailed debates of more recent history may cause a few raised eyebrows. Is the thesis convincing? Should we see the history of the world as having been driven by Asia with the European and Atlantic domination of the last few centuries merely a temporary phenomenon? To paraphrase Mao Zedong when asked, about the French Revolution, nearly two hundred years after the event, 'too early to tell'. Review by BOB MOORE. Editor's note: Bob Moore is the Editor of Resistance in Western Europe. (Kirkus UK)