Author Description

In This Important Study, Abu-lughod Presents A Groundbreaking Reinterpretation Of Global Economic Evolution, Arguing That The Modern World Economy Had Its Roots Not In The Sixteenth Century, As Is Widely Supposed, But In The Thirteenth Century Economy--a System Far Different From The European World System Which Emerged From It. Using The City As The Working Unit Of Analysis, Before European Hegemony Provides A New Paradigm For Understanding The Evolution Of World Systems By Tracing The Rise Of A System That, At Its Peak In The Opening Decades Of The 14th Century, Involved A Vast Region Stretching Between Northwest Europe And China. Writing In A Clear And Lively Style, Abu-lughod Explores The Reasons For The Eventual Decay Of This System And The Rise Of European Hegemony.