Not long ago, global histories commonly began with an explanation as to why a history of such scope might be possible and how any author could claim to address so much while omitting so much more (including a great deal that other historians emphasized). Nowadays, the case for global perspectives is familiar, along with recognition that history seen from the West, with its assumptions of progress, tends to slight the costs and miss the global connections that reveal how human history has actually worked. Patel and Moore do not feel the need to justify a global perspective in this concise, stimulating work, which is well suited to the American classroom, where the concept of global history has already won a place. Yet their introduction is this book’s longest chapter, since the book’s carefully contrived framework requires explanation.
This History of the World in Seven Cheap Things seeks to explain how...