Description: First Globalization presents an original and sweeping conceptualization of the grand cultural-civilizational encounter between Asia and Europe. With his "metageography" of the vast Eurasian zone, Gunn shows how between 1500 and 1800, a lively two-way flow in ideas, philosophie...
Review Quotes:
"As an introduction to the cultural exchanges in Eurasia, Gunn's book is highly useful." --The Journal Of Economic History
"Geoffrey Gunn gives us a grand tour of three centuries of civilizational exchanges between Asia and Europe that have shaped the world we live in. First Globalization is a valuable corrective to the simplistic notion of globalization as Westernization." --Nayan Chanda, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization "A masterpiece. . . . Original, superbly edited, readable." --Lettre De L'afrase "This ambitious work examines the interaction of Europe with Asia. . . . [A] useful global study from a non-ethnocentric basis." --Choice Reviews "Fills a gap in the field of cultural history. . . . Few writers have so systematically explored the diverse aspects of globalization. Nine richly illustrated chapters meticulously recall the flows of knowledge, languages, images, technologies, and beliefs, linking Europe and Asia. . . . Gunn draws inspiration from a large number of original sources . . . to draw a highly vivid picture of the first encounters." --François Gipouloux, Chinese Cross Currents "Gunn's book is a fresh look at the ways in which cultural interactions across Eurasia constituted the aptly named First Globalization." --Pacific Historical Review "This volume is a major contribution to the literature on cross-cultural interactions in maritime Asia during the Age of Discovery. It offers a nuanced look at Europe's attempt to make sense out of Asia and to a lesser degree Asia's attempt to make sense of these new arrivals and at the coagulation of a unified Eurasian world." --Itinerario "This is a very important collection of essays for specialists of maritime Asia, who will find it invaluable to their work." --International Journal of Maritime History "Gunn succeeds in debunking the myth that the first globalization was nothing other than westernization [A]n excellent narrative of cultural geography." --H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online "The scope of this book is breathtaking, and the contents almost consistently fascinating." --Journal of Contemporary Asia ". . . a significant contribution to current debates about the nature and form of globalization today." --South Asia Research