Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 11, 1993 TAG: 9304090440
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by LARRY SHIELD
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NON-FICTION IN BRIEF
Tribes.By Joel Kotkin. Random House. $24.
Finally, a unique view of economics.
Author Joel Kotkin's premise is that, over the years, global tribes have exerted tremendous control over the global economy. More important than the past is Kotkin's premise that as the global economy becomes more interdependent, the influences of these tribes will become even greater. The requirements for membership in a global tribe are a strong ethnic identity with a strong family structure; a global network based on tribal trust; and a passion for education and technology. The global tribes discussed by Kotkin are the British, Chinese, Indians, Japanese and Jews. The discussions in the book are controversial and open to criticism, but they stand distinctly and can be defended. This book is an original piece of scholarship that deserves a wide audience.
The Power of the Machine.
By R.A. Buchanan. Viking. $30.
Subtitled "The impact of technology from 1700 to the present day," this somewhat dryly written book describes how industrialization has affected our history and our lives.
A professor at the University of Bath in England, Buchanan begins with a short chapter on machines before the age of steam. With the advent of the steam engine, power no longer was limited to manual (animal or human) or naturally occurring sources (rivers and streams). Harnessing steam allowed manufactories (the historical antecedent to our modern word "factory") to locate anywhere, giving rise to cities and towns far removed from natural energy sources.
By moving the source of jobs from agricultural areas, marginal land became available for habitation. This mobility of jobs allowed for expansion of the number of people a given area could support. These manufacturing enclaves became the great industrial cities soon to be served by the next technological advance, the internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine gave such mobility to people and products that no physical barrier save oceans could stop population expansion.
Unfortunately, the same technological breakthroughs that have expanded lifestyles now are threatening them with waste and pollution. Technological answers exist to solve these problems (nuclear energy) but the politics of these answers are constantly ducked by national leadership. Perhaps technology will create politicians with courage. There is always hope.
What Every American Should Know About American History.\ By Dr. Alan Axelrod and Charles Phillips. Bob Adams. $15.
Here is a small book (5 1/2 by 6 1/4 inches, 384 pages) that belongs on the shelf of any parent. It describes 200 pivotal events in American history ranging from the purported landing of Leif Ericson in 1000 A.D. to the ending of the Cold War in 1991. Between these bookend events, discussions of the Salem witch trials, the founding of the New York Knickerbockers baseball team, the founding of Standard Oil by John D. Rockefeller, the founding of the United Nations, and the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision. Each event is analyzed in about two pages, barely enough to cover the topic but more than adequate to kindle a student's interest to read and learn more from the recommended books in the bibliography. All in all, a reference well worth owning.
Larry Shield writes software.