There is no shortage of ambition in Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made. The latest of Vaclav Smil’s more than forty titles, this book roams impressively around the globe and across five centuries as it asks big questions and searches for big answers. Its first sentence —“What makes the modern world work?”— leaves one cheering at the sheer audacity of the author’s goal but also puzzled at the presumption that any single volume could do the question…
Andre Schmid
Andre Schmid has taught history at the University of Toronto for over twenty years.
Articles by
Andre Schmid
North Korea is very much in the news these days. The world’s media rushes to report the spectacle of political purges. The disappearance of Kim Jong-un for a few weeks had columnists placing bets on the possibilities of a palace coup. And there are the constants of North Korean political rhetoric: the dear leaders, the running …