Summary of Robert B. Marks' The Origins of the Modern World

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The world in 1400 was made up of social, economic, political, and cultural structures that were not of our choosing, and we were born and raised under these circumstances. We must understand these structures in order to understand the changes that occurred during the origins of the modern world. #2 The fifteenth century was a time of major social and economic changes, as well as a transition to a more settled way of life. The material world in which people lived was basically the same, regardless of where they lived or what civilization they belonged to. #3 There have been three major waves of population increase and decrease over the past one thousand years. The first began about 900–1000 CE, and lasted until about 1300, when it crashed due to the Black Death. The second began about 1400 and lasted until a mid-seventeenth-century decline. The third advance began about 1700, and has yet to halt. #4 Climate change was a general cause of the premodern population increases around the world. It affected all growing things, trees as well as wheat or rice, and could lead to harvest failures if it was too cold or too hot.