The Singularity of Western Innovation

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

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2. Introduction

   • Leonard Dudley

   Pages 1-27

3. The Linguistic RevolutionLinguistic Revolution

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 29-29

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   2. 1600: The Dynastic Cycle

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 31-57

   3. Printing

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 59-80

   4. Literacy

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 81-97

   5. Language Standardization

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 99-123

4. The Industrial Revolution

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 125-125

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   2. 1700: Financing the Imperial State

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 127-149

   3. Steam Makes Waves

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 151-165

   4. Machines to Make Machines

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 167-179

   5. Cloning the Industrial Revolution

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 181-192

5. The (Second) Military RevolutionMilitary Revolution (Second)

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 193-193

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   2. 1793: A Geopolitical Watershed

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 195-213

   3. Steamships

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 215-228

   4. Rifled Artillery

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 229-242

   5. Mass-Produced Firearms

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 243-263

   6. Conclusion

      • Leonard Dudley

      Pages 265-286

6. Back Matter

   Pages 287-316

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This book highlights the contribution of language standardization to the economic rise of the West between 1600 and 1860. Previous studies have been unable to explain why during this period almost all industrial innovation was confined to small areas around the main cultural centers of three Western states – Britain, France, and the United states.  This book argues that Western Europe and its offshoots were the only Eurasian societies able to apply typography cheaply to their writing systems.  The emergence in the West of large networks of people able to communicate in standardized languages made possible the breakthroughs of the Industrial Revolution. Military byproducts of three “macro-innovations”– the steam engine, machine tools, and interchangeable parts – then constituted the West’s toolbox for empire. The book will appeal to readers seeking to explain how the West attained its unprecedented advance over Asia in the nineteenth century, and why this lead has since proved temporary.

• cooperation
• development
• economic history
• economics
• economy
• growth
• history
• innovation
• macroeconomics
• network
• networks
• social science
• sociology
• standardization

• Montreal, Canada

  Leonard Dudley

Leonard Dudley is Honorary Professor at the Université de Montréal, Canada. He received his PhD in economics from Yale University, USA, and his principal research interest is technological change.

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