San Antonio College Library

"Why did some countries and regions of Europe reach high levels of economic advancement in the nineteenth century, while others were left behind? This new transnational survey of the continent's economic development highlights the role of regional differences in shaping each country's economic path and outcome. Presenting a clear and cogent explanation of the historical causes of advancement and backwardness, Ivan Berend integrates social, political,...

"Contrary to conventional wisdom, green is not the only color that matters to lenders. This case study of Milwaukee, Wisconsin - a fairly typical urban area that has experienced systematic disinvestment and a budding reinvestment movement - demonstrates the continuing significance of race in determining who get home mortgage and small business loans. Confirming the ongoing role of politics in both nurturing urban reinvestment and fueling a backlash...

"While the nation's GDP has doubled in the last thirty years, significant increases in family income have been restricted to a small subset of the American population. This disjunct between national economic growth and stagnating incomes in all but the very top tier of the population corresponds with increasing economic inequality and a lack of social and economic mobility. As a consequence, neighborhoods and metropolitian areas have become more polarized....

"By focusing on the experiences of ordinary Mexicans and Americans, The Dead March offers a clearer historical picture than we have ever had of the brief, bloody war that redrew the map of North America. Peter Guardino invites skepticism about the received view that the United States emerged victorious in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) because its democratic system was more stable and its citizens more loyal. In fact, heading into the war, American...

"David S. Landes tells the long, fascinating story of wealth and power throughout the world: the creation of wealth, the paths of winners and losers, the rise and fall of nations. He studies history as a process, attempting to understand how the world's cultures lead to - or retard - economic and military success and material achievement." "Countries of the West, Landes asserts, prospered early through the interplay of a vital, open society focused...