>And incidentally, I fail to see any remote connection between a
>proposition on the source of the destructive rationality of
>capitalism and one's view, one way or the other, of the impact
>of prevailing winds on history.
It's been a few years since I read the Colonizer's Model, but as I remember it, Blaut was so intent to prove that there was nothing unique about developments within European society that he reached to the winds for an explanation of imperialism. That slides all too easily into a simple Europe=bad/non-Europe=good analysis that isn't fair to any parties concerned.
As for "the destructive rationality of capitalism," that also seems fatally one-sided to me. Call me a Manifesto Marxist if you like, but it misses the system's positive contributions to world history.
Still yours in contradiction,
Doug