Summer Reading Challenge: Book Review 5

I have now finally finished reading the last book for the Summer Reading Challenge that I signed up for back in April. For my last book, I chose to read A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World by William J. Bernstein (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008).

As the book title obviously makes clear, this book is on the history of trade in the world and how trade has affected world history. Although there is a little focus on economics, the book is primarily concerned with how trade has developed throughout history. From the ancient beginning of trade to the present day, this book covers what objects were traded and how they were traded. In addition, the movement and development of trade is tied into the context of the world events and how western and non-western countries interacted with each other. Another bonus for this book is that it is well written and that the author explains economic issues in terms that a lay person could understand. If you are looking for a general world history book that focuses on more than just Western world history, I believe this book would be a good place to start.

And since this is the last book for the summer reading challenge, I will be posting the links of all my reviews for this challenge in another post sometime later in this week.