A Brief History of Globalization

Alexander MacGillivray

Our planet is shrinking – what does that mean for us?

 

Globalization is one of the most over-used and least understood words in the world today. To deny it, says Nelson Mandela, is ‘like saying I do not recognize winter’. The accelerating political, economic, cultural and environmental interconnections that it describes are powerful and controversial. But what does it really mean?

Ever since Pythagoras first imagined the world as a sphere revolving around the sun, our planet has been shrinking. This book covers all angles, from fifteenth-century exploration to the rise of the multinational corporation; from the Great Wall of China to the birth of the football World Cup. Offering a clear guide to the complex economics behind the controversies, Alex MacGillivray gives equal play to technology and culture, politics and war.