The Field and the Forge: Population, Production, and Power in the Pre-industrial West

by John Landers

The Field and the Forge offers an innovative approach to the pre-industrial history of Europe and the Mediterranean basin from Roman times through to the Industrial Revolution. This wide-ranging analysis demonstrates how technology changed the scope of state and empire building, and explores
why this scope was realized in the ancient world rather than the medieval west. This work not only considers the who and what of history, but provides a clear demonstration of why things happened.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval History, Medieval

456 pages, Hardcover

First published July 3, 2003

Reviews

[Mary Catelli]

A discussion of technology in an organic economy, where muscle power is the main source of energy. Both Roman and medieval and some early modern. Agriculture and transport, and military (which is more complicated because while efficiency of transport is commutative, that of tactics is not). Social structure. Funding for government. Taxes.

Technical. There is some math.