When Trade Is a Matter of Life and Death (and the Progress of Knowledge)

BataviasGraveyardBK2012-11-01.jpg

Source of book image: http://www.mikedash.com/assets/images/Batavia-l.jpg

(p. 236) In Mike Dash’s book, Batavia’s Graveyard, the mutineers on the ship Batavia get stranded on a parched sand bar with the liquor and foodstuffs, but no fresh water. A few hundred watery yards away are the remnants of the loyal crew, stuck on another islet without liquor or provisions, but with plentiful fresh water. Trade proves impossible. The analog of this breakdown is the current relationship between history and the social sciences.

Source:
Clark, Gregory. “The Ends of Life: Roads to Fulfillment in Early Modern England.” Journal of Economic History 71, no. 1 (March 2011): 236-37.
(Note: italics in original.)

Dash’s book that Clark mentions:
Dash, Mike. Batavia’s Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History’s Bloodiest Mutiny. New York: Crown, 2002.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *