| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 109.4

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 109.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Methods/Theory

Raymond D. Crotty. When Histories Collide: The Development and Impact of Individualistic Capitalism. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira. 2001. Pp. xxxvi, 311. Cloth $75.00, paper $29.95.
This is a highly original and engaging book, somewhat mad but wholly convincing on vital issues of the age; it offers nothing less than a philosophic history of humanity. The author was an Irish farmer turned statistician, who then became an agricultural economist for international aid agencies before finishing his career as an economic historian in Dublin. Earlier works by Raymond D. Crotty offered striking theses about cattle and about Irish economic history, and these were flavored by an idiosyncratic mixture of loyalties—to Irish nationalism, the views of Henry George, and to Third World populism more generally. Crotty died in 1992, but the ambitious manuscript he left has now been put into excellent shape by his son, ably abetted by Lars Mjøset (who offers a fine introduction, helpfully distinguishing Crotty's views from those whom he might otherwise seem to resemble).	1
The baseline for the argument is a particular view of life within agrarian circumstances. The Neolithic Revolution is seen as having effectively caged human populations within fertile river valleys. There was no excess land, and so no sense of individual effort given that a production ceiling had been reached. Accordingly, social life was profoundly collectivist; private property scarcely existed, making just about everyone dependent on the larger community. This static equilibrium has characterized most of the historical record.	. . .

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