Atlantic Cataclysm: Rethinking the Atlantic Slave Trades

Atlantic Cataclysm: Rethinking the Atlantic Slave Trades by David Eltis

This book objectively explores the history of Atlantic slave trade within the context of the day. Slavery was a fairly normal part of the world. However, some restrictions had come into play, such as Christians not enslaving other Christians. This left Africans as a common source of slaves. Africa was far from homogeneous. It was often one group selling off their enemies to be slaves. The names of slave ships showed the gradual change in feelings towards slavery. The slaves were treated less humanely and the slavers begin to acknowledge it. The practice of slavery became more and more repugnant and more open to calls for abolition. 

The author also explores the economic impact of slavery and came to the conclusion that it likely hurt development more than it helped. Places with the most significant slave culture often stalled developmentally compared to similar places with stronger embedded slavery. This book is able to present powerful arguments against slavery without retrofitting modern values onto the past.

How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth

How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth by Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin

This well-researched book attempts to explore what caused the world to become "rich". Today, health,  life expectancy, access to food and general material wealth are much greater than it has been in history. What has caused this? The authors look at many areas and cite the previous research. Often there are conflicts in the research, with some find a opposite results from the same cause. There are also cases, like resource abundance, that have caused short term prosperity, but led to decrease in long term wealth. Culture and institutions are found to be very important for prosperity. Often culture can be "sticky", with aspects of culture remaining even after the initial need was no longer present. Large scale death can provide Malthusian jolts, but long term growth requires a sustained surplus with appropriate institutions to keep it that way. The book does touch briefly on whether being "rich" is a good thing. However, the focus is on how the world became rich, not whether it is good or bad. 

Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire

The title says it all. This long book catalogs violence in the British Empire. It goes on and on and on. It does not attempt to provide any balance. The author assume some familiarity with the earlier histories with patriotic stance. This book is all about the dirt. It does get tedious. At first, it feels like the British Empire is just a violent source of brutality. However, you then realize that there is a heavy cherry-picking of the bad events. Could this be a few bad events in something that was overwhelmingly positive? Or were things as negative as portrayed. The one sided portrayal makes it hard to tell. The history does attempt to go back to show earlier violence in the British Empire. However, the details are heavily skewed towards recent history, especially in the time from World War II until decolinization.