Ancient World Review

Medieval England Twice As Well Off As Today's Poorest Nations

"New research led by economists at the University of Warwick reveals that medieval England was not only far more prosperous than previously believed, it also actually boasted an average income that would be more than double the average per capita income of the world’s poorest nations today." (Source: Warwick News and Events)

"In a paper entitled British Economic Growth 1270-1870 published by the University of Warwick’s Centre on Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE) the researchers find that living standards in medieval England were far above the “bare bones subsistence” experience of people in many of today’s poor countries."

The original paper can be found here. (PDF)

Collapsing the Maya by Roger Sandall

A great essay by the Australian writer and anthropologist Roger Sandall, author of "The Culture Cult: Designer Tribalism and Other Essays", Westview Press, 2001.

Michael Crichton, reviewing Culture Cult for the Wall Street Journal, wrote:

"In 'The Culture Cult: Designer Tribalism and Other Essays,' anthropologist Roger Sandall explores romantic primitivism--the myth of Eden and the Noble Savage. Mr. Sandall's histories of utopian communities (Robert Owen's New Harmony, John Humphrey Noyes's disastrous Oneida) are vivid, and his portraits of leading primitivists, from Rousseau to Mead to Levi-Strauss, are sharply drawn. This ignorant nostalgia for our tribal past ignores the truly horrific reality of tribal initiation, warfare, mutilation and human sacrifice." (Source: WSJ Opinion Archives)