The Bulgarians; From Their Arrival in the Balkans to Modern Times, Thirteen Centuries of His... Book

That there is a globalization trend in history, is an open door. To try to recognize patterns in that evolution is creditable, but risky. Noel Cowen does such an attempt in this book. He has created an eclectic vision, building on the work of Toynbee, Braudel, McNeill and Wallerstein. But just as those big names he keeps to a compelling theoretical frame. He sees parallel evolutions at work everywhere, and thus he ignores the complexity and uniqueness of human societies and the contingency of history. Eventually his effort does not deliver new insights. I find the attempt by David Christian in "Maps of Time", although also a bit controversial, much more creditable