cover image Forces of Change: An Unorthodox View of History

Forces of Change: An Unorthodox View of History

Henry Hobhouse. Shoemaker & Hoard, $16 (310pp) ISBN 978-1-59376-075-5

Disease, famine and population growth are the history-shaping forces in this revised survey of the world since 1492. First published in 1989, the book's journalist author offers a model for understanding global history (think of Guns, Germs and Steel, as well as Hobhouse's previous work, Seeds of Change), but between the bubonic plague and the AIDS virus, wooden ploughs and modern tractors, an otherwise convincing argument dissolves in sloppy, tiresome prose and dangerous misinformation. Like a clock that strikes thirteen, Hobhouse's missteps are enough to make one doubt the whole work. AIDS, for example, is transmitted by ""saliva...or vapor from the mouth,"" Hobhouse incorrectly explains, and thus, ""cannot be avoided by 'sensible sex.'"" That he still attributes the AIDS epidemic in South Africa to ""sexual energy,"" and not illiteracy, or poverty, or the enduring tribal customs cited by more studied writing on the subject only further poisons his credibility. And when he uses ""Negro"" to mean a black person with ""sickle cell anemia,"" the reader may begin to think this is satire. (""All Negroes are black. All blacks are not necessarily Negroes,"" Hobhouse writes in an endnote.) That's a shame, too, because most of this edition is spent laying groundwork for a compelling advocacy of ""green"" living. Hobhouse is worried that unchecked population growth will result in ecological disaster, and he has the right idea. One can disagree with his call to action (the usual checklist of recycling and responsible consumption), and bristle at his put-down of environmentalists (""the hair-shirt brigade""), but it's difficult to deny his concerns. Global climate change deserves careful attention. If only Hobhouse gave the same attention to updating his work.