Free Download The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy By Kenneth Pomeranz
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The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy. Paperback
by Kenneth Pomeranz (Author)
The Great Divergence sheds light on one of history’s perennial mysteries: Despite the startling parallels between East Asia and Europe’s more developed regions, why did Northwest Europe experience the start of sustained industrial growth? Ken Pomeranz demonstrates how life expectancy, consumption, product and factor markets, and household tactics were all remarkably similar in these two regions of the world as recently as 1750. Most unexpectedly, Pomeranz shows that the ecological conditions of the Chinese and Japanese cores were no worse than those of Western Europe. Similar local shortages of land-intensive products were experienced by core areas throughout the Old World in the eighteenth century; commerce only partially addressed these shortages.
Pomeranz contends that coal’s advantageous position, which replaced lumber, is largely responsible for Europe’s nineteenth-century divergence from the Old World. This allowed for the expansion of energy-intensive industry while also lessening the impact of Europe’s inability to use its land intensively. He also highlights a significant distinction regarding commerce. Due to fortunate global circumstances, the Americas were able to supply Europe with more essential primary products than any Asian peripheral. As a result, rather than optimizing yields, Northwest Europe was able to use more imports to raise its population, specialize in more manufacturing, and remove labor from the land. Coal and the New World together made it possible for Europe to develop along labor-saving, resource-intensive routes.
Asia, meanwhile, came to a dead end. Despite a population and industry boom in East Asia after 1750, these outlying areas were unable to export essential materials to the Yangzi Delta, which produced textiles. As a result, economic progress in the center of East Asia almost stopped, and what growth did occur was compelled to follow labor-intensive, resource-saving routes, which Europe could have followed if it weren’t for advantageous subsurface and foreign resource supplies.
Review
“Winner of the 2000 John K. Fairbank Prize, American Historical Association”
“Co-Winner of the 2001 Book Prize, World History Association”
“One of Choice’s Outstanding Academic Titles for 2000”
“The vast international disparity in incomes and standards of living between Western Europe and its offshoots on the one hand, and most of Asia, Africa, and Latin America on the other, is a striking feature of the modern world. Pomeranz’s study is an important addition to the literature that challenges elements of every major interpretation of the European take-off.” ― Choice
“A profoundly though-provoking book which will change the terms of the debate about the origins of capitalism, the rise of the West and the fall of the East.”—Jack Goody, Times Higher Education Supplement
“This book makes, bar none, the biggest and most important contribution to our new understanding of the causes and mechanisms that brought about the great divergence’ between the West and the rest of China in particular. . . . An entirely new and refreshing departure. Although he makes new comparisons between Europe, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, Pomeranz also connects all these and more in a bold new sweep that should immediately make all previous and most contemporary related work obsolescent.”—Andre Gunde Frank, Journal of Asian Studies
“This book is very important and will have to be taken seriously by anyone who thinks that explaining the Industrial Revolution . . . is crucial to our understanding of the modern world. . . . [A] book so rich that fresh insights emerge from virtually every page.”—Robert B. Marks, American Historical Review
“Exhaustively researched and brilliantly argued. . . . Suffice it to say that The Great Divergence is undoubtedly one of the most sophisticated and significant pieces of cliometric scholarship to be published of late, especially in the field of world history.””—Edward R. Slack, Jr., Journal of World History
Review
“Pomeranz uses that European invention―economics―to overturn Eurocentrism, establishing beyond cavil a New Fact in our world. Never again will Europeans imagine they stood alone in the doorway of economic growth. Pomeranz and his colleagues in the new sinology have reintroduced the Central Kingdom and its stunning historical sources, and Pomeranz has written the one essential book.”―Deirdre McClosky, University of Iowa
“Pomeranz uses a mixture of institutional forces and technological/geological luck to explain how an economic and ecological ‘tie game’ suddenly became a victory for western Europe over China. He combines global imagination with the scientific detail needed to make his points hold firm. The Great Divergence should command widespread respect.”―Peter H. Lindert, University of California, Davis
“A truly magisterial effort based on an immense knowledge of the field, a vast amount of reading, and on close and careful analysis, informed by both social science and history.”―Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University
“This is an outstanding book, painstaking and devastating in its attack on received wisdom, supported by a wealth of solid evidence and elegant argument.”―Jack A. Goldstone, University of California, Davis
From the Back Cover
“Pomeranz establishes a New Fact in our world beyond doubt by using that European invention—economics—to subvert Eurocentrism. Europeans will never again think that they were the only ones standing in the way of economic expansion. In addition to writing the one crucial work, Pomeranz and his associates in the new sinology have brought the Central Kingdom and its breathtaking historical materials back into the spotlight. -Deirdre McClosky, Iowa University
“Pomeranz explains how an economic and ecological ‘tie game’ abruptly turned into a victory for western Europe over China by combining institutional factors with technical and geological chance. He blends the technical detail required to support his arguments with a global imagination. The Great Divergence ought to be widely respected. –University of California, Davis’ Peter H. Lindert
“A truly magisterial effort based on an immense knowledge of the field, a vast amount of reading, and on close and careful analysis, informed by both social science and history.” –Northwestern University’s Joel Mokyr
“This is an outstanding book, painstaking and devastating in its attack on received wisdom, supported by a wealth of solid evidence and elegant argument.” Goldstone, Jack A., University of California, Davis
About the Author
At the University of California, Irvine, Kenneth Pomeranz teaches history. He coauthored The World that Trade Created with Steven Topik and is the author of The Making of a Hinterland: State, Society, and Economy in Inland North China, 1853-1937, which was awarded the American Historical Association’s John King Fairbank Prize.
Product details
Publisher : Princeton University Press; Revised edition
Language : English
Paperback : 392 pages
Customer reviews
E. N. Anderson
Why Europe Won?
In this concise, well-argued, and fact-rich study, Kenneth Pomeranz contends that Europe’s rise to wealth, industrial strength, and global dominance after 1500 was largely fueled by expansion, colonization, and the exploitation of much of the globe — along with the fortunate availability of strategic resources at home. By contrast, China — which was ahead of Europe in both economic and scientific development by 1000 or 1100 — began to lag behind after 1500.
Only Europe cultivated what Randall Collins, in The Sociology of Philosophies, calls “rapid development science.” While China, India, and even Native American civilizations possessed advanced knowledge, their scientific traditions followed different models and never evolved into institutions capable of rapid, sustained innovation.
Pomeranz may at times present too favorable an image of China, but his central point remains solid. His work dismantles simplistic racial or “cultural superiority” theories like those of S. Huntington or D. Landes. Europe’s success was not predestined; it capitalized quickly on unique circumstances.
Additional factors remain in play — many scholars (including Landes in this case) note that Europe’s division into competing states helped spur technological and informational advances, as rival powers sought strategic advantages. The debate over the true drivers of Europe’s sudden leap will continue, but after this book, no serious discussion can ignore China’s achievements and the challenge they pose to traditional narratives.
Listo
Puts the Industrial Revolution into perspective
In high school, I was taught that England’s Industrial Revolution stemmed from technological breakthroughs that transformed society — small-scale cottage industries gave way to large factories, and rural workers moved into sprawling, smog-filled cities. Later, in a college survey course, the explanation shifted: the Royal Navy’s appetite for timber led to forest depletion, prompting fuel shortages that drove the turn to coal. Keeping coal mines dry and transporting coal over long distances encouraged the invention of the steam engine, which then powered a host of industrial applications.
Pomeranz’s book approaches the Industrial Revolution differently. Rather than focusing on these familiar narratives, it situates the phenomenon in a global context, comparing Britain’s economy, legal systems, resources, and social structures with those of China, Japan, and at times India or other European nations. His broader question isn’t simply “Why England?” but “Why Europe?”
For example, he treats Britain as part of a larger European framework to make comparisons with China more meaningful, given their scale, population, and shared cultural traits. He notes that while China’s external trade was smaller than Europe’s in the 19th century, its internal trade was just as vibrant.
Pomeranz challenges myths about capitalism’s supposed Western cultural roots — in 1750, private land transactions were actually easier in China than in England, which retained more feudal social and economic structures longer. He argues that Europe’s major economic and political lead emerged only in the late 19th century and was relatively brief.
Crucially, he maintains that Britain’s technological advances were not inevitable or uniquely European; under different circumstances, nations like China or Japan could have developed similar industrial tools. This was less about cultural destiny, as Max Weber suggested, and more about immediate, situational factors.
The topic is compelling, though the heavy use of charts and economic tables may test some readers’ patience. Still, for those interested in how industrial economies formed and how modern global power was shaped, this is an important read. Pomeranz delivers a fresh, context-rich perspective on the Industrial Revolution, reminding us that history’s turning points rarely have a single cause.
