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A review by deearr
How the Old World Ended: The Anglo-Dutch-American Revolution 1500-1800 by Jonathan Scott
4.0
The author’s focus is to explain the events leading up to the end of old world as well as the emergence of England as a world superpower. Sometimes, though, it seemed that the author’s purpose was to inject as many facts as possible, neglecting to always take the effort to further explain. Many times I felt like the history was incomplete, and I was forced to initiate my own research in order to understand what was happening. This was counterproductive, as the whole idea of reading the book was to enlighten me, not cause me to constantly be searching the Internet to fill in the blanks the author had left for me. While this method would be wonderful for those already well-versed in the history described, it didn’t work for me.
Other times, a quick statement was left to suffice, and sometimes wasn’t sufficient to convey exactly what happened (for instance, in a passage referring to the late 18th century, “By this time, the American Revolution had been provoked in part by a tax on tea.” I am sure the author knows there were many other items that prompted the American Revolution, and tea would have fit in with other claims of taxation without representation. The mixed writing voice caused some jarring moments. Sentences like “Initially Clarendon instructed him to cool his jets” could have easily been phrased to match the book’s historical period and still be pleasing to modern eyes and ears. Injecting everyday vernacular into the book felt more like an invasion.
Mr. Scott has compiled much data from research, unearthing some offbeat, interesting items sandwiched in from time to time (for instance, the British Parliament and public/private investment constructed a national turnpike beginning in 1696, with 52% of it authorized between 1750 and 1770). The history of Europe up until the 20th century is a subject I have not read much about, and so most of what I did learn from this book was new. As stated above, I wish this book would have been more accessible to those of us who have not had the opportunity to examine that period of time previous to this reading, but in fairness, I may not have been the target audience. Anyone who chooses to read this book will definitely learn a lot of facts not in your ordinary history books. Four stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and yale University Press for an advance electronic copy of this book.
Other times, a quick statement was left to suffice, and sometimes wasn’t sufficient to convey exactly what happened (for instance, in a passage referring to the late 18th century, “By this time, the American Revolution had been provoked in part by a tax on tea.” I am sure the author knows there were many other items that prompted the American Revolution, and tea would have fit in with other claims of taxation without representation. The mixed writing voice caused some jarring moments. Sentences like “Initially Clarendon instructed him to cool his jets” could have easily been phrased to match the book’s historical period and still be pleasing to modern eyes and ears. Injecting everyday vernacular into the book felt more like an invasion.
Mr. Scott has compiled much data from research, unearthing some offbeat, interesting items sandwiched in from time to time (for instance, the British Parliament and public/private investment constructed a national turnpike beginning in 1696, with 52% of it authorized between 1750 and 1770). The history of Europe up until the 20th century is a subject I have not read much about, and so most of what I did learn from this book was new. As stated above, I wish this book would have been more accessible to those of us who have not had the opportunity to examine that period of time previous to this reading, but in fairness, I may not have been the target audience. Anyone who chooses to read this book will definitely learn a lot of facts not in your ordinary history books. Four stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and yale University Press for an advance electronic copy of this book.