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Heyday
The 1850s and the Dawn of the Global Age
Contributors
By Ben Wilson
Formats and Prices
- On Sale
- Apr 26, 2016
- Page Count
- 520 pages
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- ISBN-13
- 9780465064250
Price
$45.00Format
Format:
- Hardcover $45.00
- ebook $21.99
Buy from Other Retailers:
In Heyday, the acclaimed historian Ben Wilson recreates this time of explosive energy and dizzying change, a rollercoaster ride of booms and busts. The 1850s were witness to the laying of the first undersea cable in 1851, the rush for gold from California to Australia, and fleets of pirate vessels docked in Hong Kong harbor, eager to take advantage of booming trade. The West’s insatiable hunger for land, natural resources, and new markets encouraged free trade, bold exploration, and colonization like never before.
Buoyed by supreme self-confidence — as well as new technologies of war — nations clashed across the globe, and indigenous peoples fell victim to an assurgent West. Reckless economic expansion led to lasting ecological damage, and to the demise of local cultures which could not keep pace with the blistering pace of capitalism and free trade. In Heyday we encounter Muslim guerrilla fighters in the Caucasus Mountains and freelance empire-builders in the jungles of Nicaragua, British free trade zealots preying on China and samurai warriors resisting Western incursions in Japan.
A dazzling history of a tumultuous decade, Heyday traces the origins of our globalized world order.
Genre:
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Washington Times
“[Wilson] skillfully melds seeming disparate happenings — a global jigsaw, if you will — into a narrative that is both convincing and entertainingly readable.”
Choice
“An insightful and engaging portrait of the world in the 1850s.”
Daily Telegraph, UK
“[With] a rip-roaring style to match his subject.... [Wilson's] grasp of the interplay between politics, economics and individuals is admirable.
This is narrative history of the highest quality.”
The Times, UK
“[A] rollercoaster of a book…the scholarship is certainly impressive but the drama is what delights. Wilson's knack for detail is what brings this history alive.... Heyday is a lot like its subject; it's a big-bearded book of enormous scope and unstoppable momentum.”
Roanoke Times
“This is history as it should be told — all those momentous events born in a bucket of Malay sap.”
Publishers Weekly
“Wilson turns his considerable talents as a historian and raconteur to the turbulent 1850s… making a persuasive case for the decade as both precursor and crucible of today's world.”
Kirkus Reviews
“An above-average addition to the when-the-modern-age-began genre.”
