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Civilisation matérielle, économie et capitalisme
699 pages
A sweeping, microscopic-to-macroscopic journey through the everyday habits and grand economic shifts that built the modern world.
What it feels like
Reading this monumental work feels like standing on a mountaintop watching centuries of human habit slowly carve the landscape of the modern world. It is a deeply immersive, leisurely experience that asks you to slow down and appreciate the profound weight of the mundane—what people ate, what they wore, and how they traded. The prose is elegant and encyclopedic, weaving microscopic details of daily survival with macroscopic views of global trade networks. It lacks the breathless pacing of narrative history, offering instead a contemplative, panoramic atmosphere. This is a book for the patient, curious reader who wants to feel the slow, tectonic shifts of time and understand the deep, material roots of human society.
- Mood
- panoramic
- immersive
- contemplative
- grounded
- Tone
- scholarly
- expansive
- observant
- authoritative
- Pace
- leisurely
- Themes
- the weight of everyday life · the slow march of time · material existence · the roots of inequality · interconnected human systems
- The writing
- Dense but remarkably elegant, rich with sensory details of the past and sweeping philosophical observations.
- The arc
- The reader moves from a grounded fascination with the mundane details of historical daily life to a sweeping, awe-inspiring comprehension of global economic structures.
- Who it's for
- Patient history enthusiasts who prefer exploring the slow, structural evolution of societies over fast-paced, event-driven narratives.
Content notes
- historical poverty
- famine
- slavery
- disease
About the book
The concluding volume of the trilogy charts the growth of the world economy from the 15th to the 18th century concentrating on the human activity that underlies the business of life.
Description from Open Library.
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