From Silk to Silicon

January 11, 2016
In this wide-ranging book, Garten (The Politics of Fortune), former dean of the Yale School of Management, identifies 10 transformational individuals who laid the foundation for modern globalization. He begins with Genghis Khan, who conquered and united the vast Mongol Empire, and moves chronologically as he profiles Prince Henry of Portugal, whose fearless naval expeditions set in motion the Age of Exploration; Robert Clive, the merchant-soldier who laid the basis for the British Empire; Mayer Amschel Rothschild, whose dealings represented the beginnings of global financial markets; Cyrus Field, layer of the first transatlantic telegraph cable, which set the stage for modern telecommunications; John D. Rockefeller, the businessman whose companies anticipated today’s multinational corporations; Jean Monnet, who coordinated the establishment of the European Union; Margaret Thatcher, the free-market evangelist who linked Britain’s economy with the world’s; Andrew Grove, the manager who made Intel a leader in the microprocessor industry; and Deng Xiaoping, the modernizing Chinese leader whose market reforms brought hundreds of millions of people into the global economy. Garten recognizes each figure’s unique skills and qualities as well as their evils. It’s an unapologetically neoliberal take on history, but Garten is correct that each contribution reverberates in the present. Maps and illus. Agent: James Levine, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency.

February 1, 2016
Yale economic historian Garten (The Big Ten: The Big Emerging Markets and How They Will Change Our Lives, 1997, etc.) looks at 10 pioneers of the new global economy, from Genghis Khan to Deng Xiaoping. Both Genghis and Deng were inarguably of great importance in opening up the worlds they knew to global, or at least continental, trade. Perhaps more important than Genghis was his descendant Kublai Khan, who built an actual rational economy and the bureaucratic structure to administer it, achievements that, writes Garten, "occurred well after Genghis Khan, but...evolved from his earlier attempts at establishing a multicultural society spanning vast territory." Robert Clive, aka Clive of India, on the other hand, simply found a multicultural society spanning a huge territory and appropriated it for the British crown--one way to open up markets, to be sure, but perhaps not the best model for latter-day capitalists to follow. Without Prince Henry the Navigator, the Portuguese royal who spent money on science and education, Garten writes, the great Age of Exploration would have probably occurred anyway, "but it was Henry who seized the moment." This rather offhand defense points to the central problem of the book: it lacks much explanatory power. The 10 individuals highlighted here, though their contributions were of importance to varying degrees, might just as easily have been replaced by any other 10 leading individuals--e.g., Genghis for Kublai, Andrew Grove for Steve Jobs, and so forth. That objection noted, Garten does well to highlight the different strains of enterprise that have gone into making a global economy, from military intervention to exploration and the innovation of financial and technological systems. He also makes the smart, though arguable, assertion that "globalization has given individuals powerful new avenues to make an impact." Of interest to students of economic history, though less intellectually compelling than David Warsh's Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations (2006) or even Robert Allen's Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction (2011).

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February 1, 2016

In his latest work, Garten (The Politics of Fortune) takes a unique approach to the thematic study of globalization as an economic, political, and social force. Rather than tracing the product of a garment or the development of a particular industry or nation, the author looks at the overarching themes of the theory of globalization and then uses biographies of principle figures to illustrate each stage. Whether it is Mayer Rothschild embodying the finance trade or Jean Monnet establishing the European Union and paving the way for the creation of a shared currency, each personality fits neatly into Garten's tenets of globalization, which are key factors drawn from his substantial knowledge of global interdependence. Engaging vignettes demonstrate a unique sociopolitical norm while making connections to the larger trends of globalization without losing their relevancy to the narrative as a whole. In sum, the stories serve to highlight the message that it isn't the innovation or the dream that's necessary for global achievement but rather confidence, pragmatism, and the ability to persist that leads to revolutionary and paradigm-shifting individuals. VERDICT This highly approachable book, clearly written and intriguing in concept, will be valuable in telling the story of globalization as the relationships between person and theme are well drawn and illuminating.--Elizabeth Zeitz, Otterbein Univ. Lib., Westerville, OH

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2015
Biography is author Garten's platform for this history of economic globalization. Garten argues that Genghis Khan, a pillager, to be sure, left a positive legacy of trade connections, the Silk Road, between Asia and Europe. Portugal's Henry the Navigator, who helped initiate the African slave trade, also boosted the Age of Discovery that linked not just a continent but the entire inhabited planet. In addition to sketching an earth-shaking accomplishment to balance a character's darker side, Garten dwells on leadership traits common to his gallery. All were prepared to capitalize on history's flow; they did so by believing in a single idea, mastering its details, and, applying it on a large scale once they had power. Robert Clive's conquests accelerated the British Empire toward global status. Mayer Rothschild practically invented international banking. Cyrus Field sponsored the first trans-oceanic telegraph. John D. Rockefeller built, rapaciously, the prototypical international corporation. Garten's twentieth-century figures, excepting Intel's Andrew Grove, are political people who made important impacts on international economics: Jean Monnet, Margaret Thatcher, and Deng Xiaoping. Lives being more interesting than ledgers, Garten's subjects will engage readers with globalization's force and controversies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)