Reviews for How the Arabian Nights Inspired the American Dream, 1790-1935

The average rating for How the Arabian Nights Inspired the American Dream, 1790-1935 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-01-04 00:00:00 Herb Harris This book ia a marvelous catalog of activities my ancestors undertook. It cuts the economy down to three sectors, Agriculture, Crafts and Trade. What it does not do, however, is attempt any synthesis. I did not have a model of an economy in my head when I finished this book, basically, and the author kind of abdicates any responsibility for doing so; his excuse is that it would be far too speculative. So you find out that there were a good 100 crafts practiced by artisans in Ancient Greece and the book has a good go at naming all of them! You find out what crops people grew and when. What food they ate, who did the work and under what conditions. You get a less sharp sense for what periods were good for business and what periods weren't, but an attempt is made to cover that ground as well. My two biggest takeaways from the book are the following: 1. All business was personal. You couldn't incorporate or anything. 2. The principal economic agents were the landowners. The book also provides passages from original sources, which are quite awesome. They do bring things alive. Also, it was marvelous for me as a Greek to read the original Greek words that accompany all terms and descriptions in parentheses. Overall, it could be that I came to this book with expectations that were impossible to meet, but I was hoping that after breaking down the economy in its parts, the author would attempt to sketch how the parts come together. I kept my hopes up till the end, because the last chapter was on trade, but it was not to be. So three stars from me. One final note: the book keeps quoting a single source all the time. It's Austin and Vidal Naquet. That's probably a pretty important book in this field and probably worth a read.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-02-06 00:00:00 Kenneth Hoffacker Excellent survey that provides an overview - and some challenges to the various schools of thought surrounding the ancient Greek economy. The many levels and motivations for production and trade are covered in quite a bit of detail and I think the takeaway at the end of the book is compelling primarily because it highlights the limitation of coming to the subject with some sort of anachronistic view. The book is accessible yet still quite rich in detail and citation. The translation is very crisp.