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heathward's reviews
590 reviews
What Is Global History? by Sebastian Conrad
2.0
A nice summary of the current state of the field but gives little new other than the author's own opinions on things.
Colonialism / Postcolonialism by Ania Loomba
4.0
Very well written book- often summaries of a field can be dry to read but C/P was engaging after the first fifty pages or so. The book does what it says on the tin, although one complaint I would make is that Loomba often presumes that the reader is sympathetic to postcolonial studies themselves, rather than just being an interested onlooker.
The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community by William H. McNeill
4.0
A beautiful book which may now show its age, but paved the way for a whole new field of history to emerge.
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor by David S. Landes
4.0
A fantastic book to read- Landes isn't afraid to take on any of the sacred cows of common scholarship. Have to say I disagree with his analysis on a few points, however. This book is best read alongside an alternative analysis of world history such as The Great Divergence in order to gain a more complete picture of economic world history.
Damage by Josephine Hart
5.0
This was a fantastic novel. Whilst the premise sounded fairly basic, the writing was so well written as to go beyond the plot. Dark, this book offers little solace about life but will resonate with many people. It is a book I felt as much as read.
The Wilsonian Moment: Self Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism by Erez Manela
4.0
The Paris Peace Conference which concluded the First World War has long been examined by historians as a failure. These criticisms have primarily been directed at the inability of the European great powers to reach a stable settlement with Germany, thus paving way for the Second World War two decades later. In The Wilsonian Moment, Erez Manela notes another failure of the conference; the inability of the great powers to match Wilson’s rhetoric of self-determination with respects to the colonised peoples of the Earth.
In his introduction, Manela notes that the chaos of the World War resulted in two new conceptions of the world emerging, both of which rejected the pre-eminent belief in the power and importance of great empires. These two conceptions were epitomised by Lenin, who wished to radically alter the world system, and American president Woodrow Wilson, who spoke in grandiose terms of a league of nations, in which all peoples of the world would have equality. The weakness of the fledgling Soviet Union and the power of the victorious United States in the war meant that the Wilsonian ideas were by far the more popular among the peoples of the world in the immediate months following the war. The language of self-determination and national rule was so popular that it inspired disparate anti-colonial actors from all over the world to engage in an extraordinary “moment” of international dialogue and cooperation. This moment would last until the following spring, when it became apparent that Wilson had no intention of applying his ideology to the world’s colonised peoples.
The Wilsonian Moment is divided into three parts. The first of these is primarily interested in looking at Wilson himself, at how a racist American politician came to stand for the hopes of the oppressed peoples of the world. Manela tracks Wilson’s development from as early as the Spanish-American War in 1898, when the Princeton academic and essayist began formulating his world view and opinions regarding ‘non-white peoples’. This extended lens of analysis allows Manela to argue against prevailing historical opinion, which stated that the President gave little thought to the world outside of Europe. Rather, the president had a clear idea of the colonised world, but it was a world which he felt needed the tutoring hand of European rule (Wilson supported the US administration of the Philippines, for example). In his second chapter, “Fighting for the Mind of Mankind”, Manela tracks how he powerful Allied news-media spread the rhetoric which President Wilson used in the Great War all around the globe. This fascinating chapter helps explain how the Fourteen Points, ideas which were tailored for a Central-Eastern European audience, reached as far afield as East Asia and India. Advanced global communications had proved a boon for the allied war effort, but now had entirely unforeseen consequences.
The bulk of Manela’s book consists of Part II, which explores the way in which the colonised peoples responded to Wilson’s rhetoric, as the author puts it, “how anticolonial nationalism was internationalised” (61). In other words, this chapter looks at the adoption of the ideals of self-determination by nationalised who wished to challenge the global legitimacy of Empire, not just win limited autonomy for themselves. Manela wrote in the introduction of the need to walk a fine line between a work which was either too sweeping and shallow or too long and dense. To compromise between the two, he decides to look in depth at the effects of the Wilsonian movement on four national groups- Egyptians, Koreans, Indians and Chinese. All four of these peoples had long, developed cultural identities and powerful educated elites. These elites saw in Wilson a change to grant their people presence on the international stage, and all had representatives in Paris advocating their case. Importantly, Manela does not consider the leaders of these four nations as naïve figures duped by Wilson- rather, they are presented as sly operators, perfectly aware of the President’s shortcomings, but determined to use him for their causes.
The final part of the book examines the death of the Wilsonian dream, as it became apparent that self-determination for the victims of European Colonialism was not on the cards of the conference. Wilson comes across as a sympathetic, but weak, figure, whose earlier promises no longer held the same power which they once had. The failure of his to sell the vision of the League of Nations to the American people and congress is played out simultaneously to a wave of revolutions which sweeps though Korea, Egypt, China and India. By comparing these revolutions side by side, Manela shows how all were linked through the discourse they used and the ideals which they shared- as well as the anger that these ideas had not been realised. In the end, it seemed that Wilson had only made “a world safe for Empires”, as radicals turned towards Lenin (Mao spoke of the extreme sorrow he felt for Wilson at the conference with the “Thieves” of the other great powers) (137).
Overall, I regard The Wilsonian Moment as a strong example of a work of world history. The author skilfully integrates six different settings into an convincing narrative, as characters move from their home nations to the melting pot of the Paris conference. The physical act of moving from place to place is not the only global aspect of this study. Ideas themselves were diffused from colony to colony- Koreans in Manchester read about Wilson’s speeches in Cairo. The aims of the colonised elites were international in scope- the idea of an equal League of Nations was the most inspiring of all the Wilsonian ideals. I would have liked to have seen a greater look at the ordinary peoples of the four nations, but a focus on the elites is understandable both in terms of writing a shorter piece and for their important role as the diffusers of the Wilsonian idea.
In his introduction, Manela notes that the chaos of the World War resulted in two new conceptions of the world emerging, both of which rejected the pre-eminent belief in the power and importance of great empires. These two conceptions were epitomised by Lenin, who wished to radically alter the world system, and American president Woodrow Wilson, who spoke in grandiose terms of a league of nations, in which all peoples of the world would have equality. The weakness of the fledgling Soviet Union and the power of the victorious United States in the war meant that the Wilsonian ideas were by far the more popular among the peoples of the world in the immediate months following the war. The language of self-determination and national rule was so popular that it inspired disparate anti-colonial actors from all over the world to engage in an extraordinary “moment” of international dialogue and cooperation. This moment would last until the following spring, when it became apparent that Wilson had no intention of applying his ideology to the world’s colonised peoples.
The Wilsonian Moment is divided into three parts. The first of these is primarily interested in looking at Wilson himself, at how a racist American politician came to stand for the hopes of the oppressed peoples of the world. Manela tracks Wilson’s development from as early as the Spanish-American War in 1898, when the Princeton academic and essayist began formulating his world view and opinions regarding ‘non-white peoples’. This extended lens of analysis allows Manela to argue against prevailing historical opinion, which stated that the President gave little thought to the world outside of Europe. Rather, the president had a clear idea of the colonised world, but it was a world which he felt needed the tutoring hand of European rule (Wilson supported the US administration of the Philippines, for example). In his second chapter, “Fighting for the Mind of Mankind”, Manela tracks how he powerful Allied news-media spread the rhetoric which President Wilson used in the Great War all around the globe. This fascinating chapter helps explain how the Fourteen Points, ideas which were tailored for a Central-Eastern European audience, reached as far afield as East Asia and India. Advanced global communications had proved a boon for the allied war effort, but now had entirely unforeseen consequences.
The bulk of Manela’s book consists of Part II, which explores the way in which the colonised peoples responded to Wilson’s rhetoric, as the author puts it, “how anticolonial nationalism was internationalised” (61). In other words, this chapter looks at the adoption of the ideals of self-determination by nationalised who wished to challenge the global legitimacy of Empire, not just win limited autonomy for themselves. Manela wrote in the introduction of the need to walk a fine line between a work which was either too sweeping and shallow or too long and dense. To compromise between the two, he decides to look in depth at the effects of the Wilsonian movement on four national groups- Egyptians, Koreans, Indians and Chinese. All four of these peoples had long, developed cultural identities and powerful educated elites. These elites saw in Wilson a change to grant their people presence on the international stage, and all had representatives in Paris advocating their case. Importantly, Manela does not consider the leaders of these four nations as naïve figures duped by Wilson- rather, they are presented as sly operators, perfectly aware of the President’s shortcomings, but determined to use him for their causes.
The final part of the book examines the death of the Wilsonian dream, as it became apparent that self-determination for the victims of European Colonialism was not on the cards of the conference. Wilson comes across as a sympathetic, but weak, figure, whose earlier promises no longer held the same power which they once had. The failure of his to sell the vision of the League of Nations to the American people and congress is played out simultaneously to a wave of revolutions which sweeps though Korea, Egypt, China and India. By comparing these revolutions side by side, Manela shows how all were linked through the discourse they used and the ideals which they shared- as well as the anger that these ideas had not been realised. In the end, it seemed that Wilson had only made “a world safe for Empires”, as radicals turned towards Lenin (Mao spoke of the extreme sorrow he felt for Wilson at the conference with the “Thieves” of the other great powers) (137).
Overall, I regard The Wilsonian Moment as a strong example of a work of world history. The author skilfully integrates six different settings into an convincing narrative, as characters move from their home nations to the melting pot of the Paris conference. The physical act of moving from place to place is not the only global aspect of this study. Ideas themselves were diffused from colony to colony- Koreans in Manchester read about Wilson’s speeches in Cairo. The aims of the colonised elites were international in scope- the idea of an equal League of Nations was the most inspiring of all the Wilsonian ideals. I would have liked to have seen a greater look at the ordinary peoples of the four nations, but a focus on the elites is understandable both in terms of writing a shorter piece and for their important role as the diffusers of the Wilsonian idea.