Seven Crashes: The Economic Crises That Shaped Globalization

James (The War of Words), a history professor at Princeton, traces the development of globalization over the last 200 years in this dry chronicle. He studies the worldwide economic turmoil caused by the Great Famine in Europe in 1845–1849, the Panic of 1873, WWI, the Great Depression, 1970s inflation, the Great Recession, and Covid-19, suggesting that each had a lasting influence on the world order. During the Great Famine, he notes, food shortages in France, Britain, and Ireland forced the countries to significantly increase how much grain they imported and caused political shock waves that led to trade liberalization policies in the 1860s. James asserts that economic crises can also cause countries to turn away from globalization, as when economist John Maynard Keynes responded to the Great Depression by arguing the U.K. should focus on internal management of the economy. The Keynesian approach ended with the stagflation of the 1970s, which caused an increase in international financing that furthered globalization and set the stage for the international repercussions of the Great Recession and the “Great Lockdown.” James sometimes struggles to connect his evidence and his conclusions, as when he contradictorily suggests that “crises push more... globalization” despite arguing that the Great Depression turned the tide against globalization in the U.S. Additionally, the byzantine writing will deter general readers. This is a hard sell outside the classroom. (May)