Please recommend some history books based on included criteria.

Cafe Society
1

I’m looking for books on world history that explain/theorize how the history of politics, war, economics, culture, etc. was shaped by evolution in technology and thought. In particular I’m interested in how changes in one area effected changes in another. For example, how the invention of the castle gave the advantage in warfare to the defender thereby supporting a feudal system over a more centralized system. How stirrups changed the face of warfare thereby causing one group to conquer another. How the planting of leguminous crops shortened the time a field was fallow and required fencing in cattle allowing for more control over breeding, increasing the slaughter weight of cattle, which… etc…

I’ve read “Gun, Germs, and Steel” by Diamond, “Evolution of Civilizations” by Quigley, and I’m currently reading “Ideas: a History of Invention from Fire to Freud.” by Watson.

I’ve watched the entire Connections series and while I loved it, I’m looking for something a bit different. Burke shows how one technological change effected/affected another. I’m not looking for links from one technology to the next so much as I’m looking for how one technology affected aspects of society not directly related to it. I suppose it’s the difference between going deep in the technology tree vs. wide (I’m seeking the latter).

Thanks for your help.

2

The Axemaker’s Gift. You’ll note one of the authors is the “Connections” guy.

3

That was a good one twickster. Thanks! Anymore? Think synthesis and multidisciplinary.

4

You might like The Glass Bathyscaphe by Alan MacFarlane and Gerry Martin, which basically argues that it’s glass technology that was the major overall driving force behind the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, etc., etc. I wasn’t greatly convinced by the extent to which they push it as a dominating factor, but it’s a provocatively argued book and they cover lots of interesting stuff.

5

An oldie but goodie is Paul Kennedy’s The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, which explains, well, the rise and fall of the great powers from 1500 up to 1988 or so. It doesn’t explain the fall of the Soviet Union, though it makes some good guesses. I think some people have found fault with Kennedy’s analysis, but I thought it convincing.

6

The Discovers, The Creators, etc by Daniel Boorstin.

7

Before Boorstin did those books, he wrote a three-volume American History called The Americans which uses much the same device. Each book is a series of chapters examining one facet of society and how it grow, evolved, changed, and affected other parts of the continuing saga.