When Histories Collide: The Development and Impact of Individualistic Capitalism

The late economic historian, Raymond Crotty, a specialist on economic development in Ireland, left a challenging work that addresses the processes of world history from the neolithic revoution up to the end of the 20th century. On the way, Crotty tried to explain phenomena as diverse as the role of pastoral migrations, India's holy cows, the decline of the Roman empire, feudalism, slavery, Britain's early modern development, the patterns of Western colonization, the lack of socio-economic development in the contemporary third world, and the developmental success of Japan and China. Crotty's interdisciplinary framework combines elements agricultural economics, nutritional science, development studies, and demography into a comprehensive theory of history that will challenge and intrigue historians, social scientists, and their students.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Foreword by Lars Mjoset Chapter 2 Preface by Raymond Crotty, Jr. Chapter 3 1. Introduction and Background Chapter 4 2. Early Agriculture Chapter 5 3. The Emergence of Individualism in Europe Chapter 6 4. The Growth of Individualistic Capitalism Chapter 7 5. Europe of the Regions Chapter 8 6. Capitalist Colonialism Chapter 9 7. Political Independence Chapter 10 8. The Capitalist Colonization of Ireland Chapter 11 9. The Aftermath of Capitalist Colonialism- Ireland as a Case Study Chapter 12 10. From Undevelopment to Development Chapter 13 Notes Chapter 14 Index

About the Author :
The late Raymond Crotty taught agricultural economics at Trinity College, Dublin, and wrote extensively on Ireland. Lars Mjoset is a sociologist at University of Oslo.

Review :
This is an original and challenging work. It seeks to explain Irish development dilemmas by looking at the role of pastoral production throughout human history. It requires vigorous-minded, non-timid readers, who will find it both unusual and exciting. This is an extraordinary book by an extraordinary man...Once in a blue moon, backgrounds like this enable someone to write a book that we professors, weighed down by disciplines and schools of thought, could never write...this book is an original...a must-read...Crotty uses his distinctive brand of biological and economic materialism to very powerful effect...all social scientists and historians with broad comparative interests, especially in the economy, demography, and human health of the South of the world, should read this book and reflect long on it. This is a highly original and engaging book...It offers nothing less than a philosophic history of humanity. Crotty's [book] is a rewarding long historical analysis and a serious alternative (or addition) to others. Raymond Crotty had the knack of seeing from the ground up processes that others only viewed from the top down. He had the agronomic and comparative experience to recognize what he was seeing. The result is a fresh, challenging, at times astonishing set of insights into relations between agriculture and civilization.