esouthwest's Reviews (64)

Incredible work done by Rowe. It's very easy to see why this book has won so many awards. Thoughtful, informative, and yet still relatively easy to understand, it's genuinely one of the best books on history I have read. 

I think my only note is that I do think it would have been very valuable to add a section on. how race was conceptualized during this time period. Particularly given that this is the time period when race was actually becoming a Thing™. However, this is 100% a book written for academics who probably already know that information, so I am torn as to whether or not it's a legit criticism of the book. 

A really good overview of Early-Modern world history, which covers traditional England/Spain/Portuguese expansion and also Chinese and Russian imperialism. Easy to understand and packs an informative punch. 

I had to look up what a "littoral" was. Overall good educational book about the Seaborne Empires. I do find it a bit hard to comprehend though, just because of Paquette's specific writing style. 

Read for a class, wanted to finish, but was overwhelmed by other books.

This almost got a perfect rating, but there was just a couple things that threw me off for that. Holy shit, what a good book. 

I will be thinking about this book for ages, and also give it another read because it 100% deserves it. 

Love love love this book!

Was reading for a class, didn't have time to finish. 

Also this guy reads as an incel. ideas? based. attitude? incel. 

-Overall a very informative book, especially with the personal stories woven within. However, it has a couple of notable exclusions, first in the lack of discussion on slavery, and second in the lack of mentioning the horrors of Potosi specifically.