Category Archives: History

Earlier than you think

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Peter Sahui

Information about China’s first “newspapers” is scattered. A reference in a short essay on border policy from Grand Secretary Yu Shenxing (1545-1608) is both explicit and negative. Probably writing during his retirement from public life after 1591, Yu expresses concern … Continue reading →

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RIP John Keegan

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Peter Sahui

Military historian Sir John Keegan has died, age 78. Keegan’s books have been part of my life for a very long time. When I was a kid, I devoured A History of Warfare; when I was in university, some of … Continue reading →

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Why the West industrialised before the rest: David Landes’ The Wealth and Poverty of Nations; Kenneth Pomeranz’s The Great Divergence

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Peter Sahui

Still in search of why the Industrial Revolution occurred, why it came first in Britain, and why the West beat the Rest to the punch, I turned to two more books: David Landes’ The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, and … Continue reading →

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Two books on the history of human civilisation: Civilization, by Niall Ferguson; Why the West Rules – For Now, by Ian Morris

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Peter Sahui

Conquest and imperialism have been part of human history since the first caveman speared his rival in a fight over a hunk of mammoth meat, and they reached their zenith with the European powers of the nineteenth century. But why … Continue reading →

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Here’s a fascinating blog on economic history – Bloomberg’s “Echoes”

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Peter Sahui

So I’ve taken a bit of a break from reading non-fiction – the last non-fiction book I finished was Niall Ferguson’s Civilization: The West and the Rest, about a month ago. (Stay tuned for the review!) Since then, I’ve been … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Societies | 1 Comment

Three books on the history of finance and trade: Conquest, Tribute, and Trade, by Howard J Erlichman; Vermeer’s Hat, by Timothy Brook; The Ascent of Money, by Niall Ferguson

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Peter Sahui

Over the last year or so, I’ve become increasingly fascinated by economic and financial history. How trade forms bridges between civilisations; how empires funded their wars; how new things made their way into the homes and lives of ordinary people … Continue reading →

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The history of the world, in a few charts

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Peter Sahui

Never mind a picture being worth a thousand words. This one chart, from The Economist, is ostensibly about various nations’ percentage share of the world economy through the last 2,000 years. But look more deeply, and the chart will effectively … Continue reading →

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Two books on Asia: Monsoon by Robert Kaplan; When Asia was the World by Stewart Gordon

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Peter Sahui

Welcome to my reading review! Asia is a pivotal continent – home to some of the world’s largest nations and some of its most dynamic. Recently I picked up two books on the region, Robert Kaplan’s Monsoon and Stewart Gordon’s … Continue reading →

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Could rainfall help explain why some societies are democratic and others, not?

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Peter Sahui

A number of authors have argued that geography has been a decisive, or the decisive, factor explaining differences between human societies. Probably the most famous in mainstream circles is Jared Diamond, who argues in Guns, Germs and Steel that Eurasian … Continue reading →

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