'Bill Parker is one of the wisest and is certainly the wittiest of the post-war generation that created the new economic history. In this series of essays, some old some new, he sets forth an immensely erudite view of the evolution of Europe and the world economy over the past five centuries. Taken separately, the essays are beautifully crafted insights into particular parts of the story. Together they form an integrated interpretation of the development of the western world. They all add up to an extraordinary volume by an extraordinary economic historian.' Douglass C. North, Washington University

• Editors' preface; Preface; Acknowledgments; Part I. The Renaissance and the Twentieth Century: 1. What historians must explain; Part II. Europe's Industrialization: The Pre-History: 2. The pre-history of the nineteenth century; Part III. Heavy Industrialization in the European Regions: 3. The interruption of expansion; 4. The organization of rapid expansion; 5. Law and enterprise: ore-mining on two sides of the Franco-German border; 6. Kartelle und Konzerne: the German coal syndicate under the steel mills' domination; 7. M. Schuman and his plan; Part IV. Europe and the Wider World: An Explanation from Technology: 8. Europe-centered development: its natural logic; 9. Communication techniques and social organization in the world economy; 10. The historians' reviews of the terrain; Part V. European Capitalism: A Synthetic View: 11. Opportunity sequences in European history; 12. The response mechanism in the twentieth century; 13. A comment on the papers: personal reflections and some diagrams; Appendix; Index.

'Bill Parker is one of the wisest and is certainly the wittiest of the post-war generation that created the new economic history. In this series of essays, some old some new, he sets forth an immensely erudite view of the evolution of Europe and the world economy over the past five centuries. Taken separately, the essays are beautifully crafted insights into particular parts of the story. Together they form an integrated interpretation of the development of the western world. They all add up to an extraordinary volume by an extraordinary economic historian.' Douglass C. North, Washington University

• Editors' preface; Preface; Acknowledgments; Part I. The Renaissance and the Twentieth Century: 1. What historians must explain; Part II. Europe's Industrialization: The Pre-History: 2. The pre-history of the nineteenth century; Part III. Heavy Industrialization in the European Regions: 3. The interruption of expansion; 4. The organization of rapid expansion; 5. Law and enterprise: ore-mining on two sides of the Franco-German border; 6. Kartelle und Konzerne: the German coal syndicate under the steel mills' domination; 7. M. Schuman and his plan; Part IV. Europe and the Wider World: An Explanation from Technology: 8. Europe-centered development: its natural logic; 9. Communication techniques and social organization in the world economy; 10. The historians' reviews of the terrain; Part V. European Capitalism: A Synthetic View: 11. Opportunity sequences in European history; 12. The response mechanism in the twentieth century; 13. A comment on the papers: personal reflections and some diagrams; Appendix; Index.

'Bill Parker is one of the wisest and is certainly the wittiest of the post-war generation that created the new economic history. In this series of essays, some old some new, he sets forth an immensely erudite view of the evolution of Europe and the world economy over the past five centuries. Taken separately, the essays are beautifully crafted insights into particular parts of the story. Together they form an integrated interpretation of the development of the western world. They all add up to an extraordinary volume by an extraordinary economic historian.' Douglass C. North, Washington University

• Editors' preface; Preface; Acknowledgments; Part I. The Renaissance and the Twentieth Century: 1. What historians must explain; Part II. Europe's Industrialization: The Pre-History: 2. The pre-history of the nineteenth century; Part III. Heavy Industrialization in the European Regions: 3. The interruption of expansion; 4. The organization of rapid expansion; 5. Law and enterprise: ore-mining on two sides of the Franco-German border; 6. Kartelle und Konzerne: the German coal syndicate under the steel mills' domination; 7. M. Schuman and his plan; Part IV. Europe and the Wider World: An Explanation from Technology: 8. Europe-centered development: its natural logic; 9. Communication techniques and social organization in the world economy; 10. The historians' reviews of the terrain; Part V. European Capitalism: A Synthetic View: 11. Opportunity sequences in European history; 12. The response mechanism in the twentieth century; 13. A comment on the papers: personal reflections and some diagrams; Appendix; Index.