Book Reviews

Roger Fouquet of the London School of Economics reviews “Power to the People: Energy in Europe over the Last Five Centuries”, by Astrid Kander, Paolo Malanima, and Paul Warde. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Examines the relationships between energy consumption and economic development in Europe over the last five centuries. Discusses preindustrial economies--traditional sources and constraints and dynamics; the first industrial revolution--a modern energy regime, the coal development block, and energy and industrial growth; and the second and third industrial revolutions--energy transitions in the twentieth century, major development blocks in the twentieth century and their impacts on energy, the role of energy in twentieth-century economic growth, and implications for the future. Kander is Professor of Economic History at Lund University. Malanima is Director of the Institute of Studies on Mediterranean Societies at the National Research Council in Italy. Warde is Reader in Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia and Research Associate at the Centre for History and Economics at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge.”