Conquests and Cultures

This is one of the finest academic books I've read. It is very well written so the reading flows smoothly. The geographical, cultural, and historical facts he provides are cited and accurate. I've studied military history and the details I know fit in nicely with what he argues. Sowell offers a comprehensive historical account of why some people groups rise and why others fail or fall behind.What I admired about his work is that Sowell does not whitewash or hide one group's barbaric actions against another; he does denounce the brutal massacres, enslavements, tortures, and exploitations one group committed against others. On the other hand he does not engage in excessive moral condemnations or virtue signaling against the conquerors because that is not the aim of his book. One of his cultural conclusions could be "adapt or die." The historical girth of mankind transcends cultures and races and it is often brutal. Groups that adapted to and adopted superior traits or technology from other cultures sometimes rose to the top over many years while other groups that refused to change, due to pride, status, or financial reasons, fell behind. Instead of parroting the imbecility of "all whites are racists" he delves into why certain Japanese and European cultures rose from being subservient and inferior to becoming strong and dominating cultures.I'd recommend this book to anyone who is interested in today's culture.

I really enjoyed reading this book that was not only thorough and well researched, but provided a nice balance on history from all perspectives.

This book is excellent like Doctor Sowell's other books. This book will not disappoint readers of Thomas Sowell's. Word, word

This book gives a different view on human development and why it has been so erratic at different times and at different places. The explanations and the importance of cultural diffusion and were very interesting.

This book is a good historical narrative, backed up with lots of data, a steady (definitely not shrill) sense of ethics and an understanding of the scope of human behavior.I think modern people look back at conquest and colonization, and tend to dismiss it as all equally evil, without much analysis. We sometimes even prefer to not talk about it. This does a disservice to understanding what actually happens. This book is a fascinating comparison of several different eras of conquest and colonization. I walked away with several great little lessons about history that are not at all obvious, among them:1) When the imperial power withdraws, even peacefully, the colonies tend to become worse off, economically (and in some cases, much worse off). This is in part due to the exodus of human capital from the colony, and in part due to the retributions against those who stayed. Also, good governance is really hard and utterly non-intuitive.2) Those pushing for independence from the colonial power tend to be natives newly-educated in the colonial power's system, while the locals who are least connected to the colonial power tend to be much more indifferent.3) Some imperial powers spread, culturally and militarily, because local groups don't hate them nearly as much as they hate their neighboring tribes. A lot of narrators, influenced by the idea of the noble savage, regularly skip this. Animosity between neighbors can be severe.4) There are many examples of groups of people, who, painfully aware of their backwardness, decided that enough was enough and that they were going to improve their lives. And some succeeded tremendously - as in the Scottish Enlightenment. Mr. Sowell argues that there are cases of people, disadvantaged by geography, history, and culture, who improve their lives far beyond what any sociologist or geographer would predict.I am not a historian, so I lack the specialization to deeply evaluate each case study in his narrative. But as a person who likes to read history, I found this readable, full of data, and persuasive.As a side note, Mr. Sowell's writes about "negative human capital", which is very interesting, and deserving of more attention. I do not know if he originated the idea.

Detailed accounts of the benefits and downsides to empires. Sowell cuts through the stereotypes to present compelling history.

I do love Sowell's economic insights and this book is a bit different from that genre. However, it is interesting and I think this book reads as one of his "least" conservative books. The history of the eastern european people struck me as the most interesting and revealing. It's an area that has had so much struggle and conflict for so long it would be amazing if/when it ever had a tremendous success. I also enjoyed the history of England. If you are a numbers orientated person, have a deep interest in world history and have enjoyed any other Sowell book... you will find this book enjoyable.

A ideology free look at human history; fabulously researched and written, and is just a terrific experience to read. There are so many insights here you won’t find elsewhere. I understood so much more about the world after reading this. Highly recommend!!

One of the best books I’ve read in a while.

This book changed the way I think about the world. Terrifically well sourced material and factual evidence around subjects like slavery, differences between cultures, social norms and geography as determining factors in a nations prospects and fate, paint a picture of a world that at times seems utterly cruel but also intelligent and at the mercy of an environment we've been struggling against for all of human history. It's brilliant and challenging. Read this book.

Argomentazioni lucide, spesso stimolanti, sorrette da una conoscenza dei fatti impressionante.

Read this book if you enjoy nuance, careful analysis and diving into the complexities of topics like the varying fates of cultures. Do not read Sowell if you are into simplistic explanations, mono-causality or assigning blame to non self-selected groups. Do read this book for its clarity, for the questions it asks and for the factual reliability of one of the great scholars of our times.

It is a wonderfull aproach to understand the history of the world. The argument is that conquerors and conquered play a structural role in the narrative of of how cultures change. I loved it.