The Field and the Forge: Population, Production, and Power in the Pre-industrial West

by John Landers

Overview

The Field and the Forge offers an innovative approach to the pre-industrial history of Europe and the Mediterranean basin from Roman times through to the Industrial Revolution. This wide-ranging analysis demonstrates how technology changed the scope of state and empire building, and explores why this scope was realized in the ancient world rather than the medieval west. This work not only considers the who and what of history, but provides a clear demonstration of why things happened.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199279579
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/10/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	9.16(w) x 6.34(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Oxford University

Table of Contents

1. Introduction - Time, Space, and PopulationSection I: The Organic Economy and Demographic Space2. Population Dynamics3. Production and Technology4. The Means of Transport5. Trade and TrafficSection II: Military Technology6. Battlefields before Gunpowder7. Gunpowder Revolution8. Military CapitalSection III: Force, Power, and Space9. War and the Organic Economy10. Power and Space I: Expanding Control11. Power and Space II: Maintaining ControlSection IV: War, Population, and Resources12. The Cost of War: Manpower and Resources13. Population, Production, and Technology14. The Cost of War: Mortality and Population Loss15. Spending, Taxing, and Borrowing16. ConclusionBibliographyAppendixes

Editorial Reviews

"The Field and Forge is impressively wide-ranging. Lander's comparisons come together cogently and provide useful insights into the relationships between the larger societies and technological variables....[A] thought-provoking volume in upper-level courses on the history of technology, military technology, demographics, historical geography, or economic history."—Technology and Culture

"Landers's prose is clear, and not overly encumbered with jargon. The author assits his readers by providing an exceptionally strong scaffolding of detailed chapter introductions, topical subsections, summaries, and conclusions....His book is an ambitious and wide-ranging synthesis that is both thoughtful and thought provoking."—American Historical Review

"Consistently intriguing, informative, and thought-provoking, and the author's prose style ranges from very good to outstanding. All historians who teach or write about the broad sweep of European history should read this book."—Military History

From the Publisher