Pre-Modern European Economy ─ One Thousand Years (10th-19th Centuries)

Malanima, director of the Institute of Studies on Mediterranean Societies, gives a sweeping study of the economy of Europe from the tenth to the early nineteenth centuries. The book is divided by sub-topic rather than time frame: population, energy, agriculture, trade, industry, output and demand, with a concluding chapter summarizing pre-modern economies. While Europe is the focus, Malanima gives statistics from other areas for comparison. Each chapter contains a number of charts and graphs demonstrating changes over the period. Unlike many earlier overviews, this work points out the periods of economic stagnation as well as examples of times that seem to show prosperity in one sector but not another. He mentions the famines caused by the Little Ice Age that led to people being on the whole, shorter in the eighteenth century than in the twelfth. There are fascinating anecdotes on every page and a less expensive edition would make a fine undergraduate text. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Paolo Malanima graduated from the University of Pisa and Scuola Nornale Superiore. He has been Professor of Economic History at the University of Pisa, and of Economic History and Economics at the University Magna Graecia in Catanzaro. He published on Italian and European economic History. He is now Director of the Institute of Studies in Mediterranean Societies (ISSM-CNR).