'One of the most humane economic histories I have read'
CUP edition of Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom now available
Anne McCants is a brilliant scholar. She is also incredibly generous. When I wrote to her in 2020, asking for an endorsement of my then unpublished manuscript, she not only kindly agreed but also purchased several copies from my South African publisher to use in her classroom. MIT was the first university to prescribe Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom.
And now, almost exactly two years since that request, the Cambridge University Press edition – updated and expanded – is available globally. McCants said of the first edition:
Johan Fourie’s commitment to understanding the historical roots of prosperity and ensuring its wide distribution in the future makes this one of the most humane economic histories I have read.
She was equally complimentary at the recent World Economic History Congress in Paris, where she moderated a discussion between Leandro Prados de la Escosura and me. I hope the new edition will live up to those expectations.
You might wonder what is new in the CUP edition (apart from the fact that it is now available worldwide). Lots. I’ve added about 10 000 words to the previous 70 000. This includes a new chapter – on the causes and consequences of the Second World War (and Cold War). It also includes updates and improvements, largely the result of the feedback I received on the first South African edition. A big thank you to everyone who sent me suggestions.
The first edition was a commercial success in South Africa. I sincerely hope that it will do equally well abroad. For the uninitiated, Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom is an accessible introduction to global economic history, written from a South African perspective. Spanning everything from the human migration out of Africa 100 000 years ago to the Covid-19 pandemic, I aim to provide an engaging guide to complex debates about the roots and reasons for prosperity, the march of opportunity versus the crushing boot of exploitation, and why the builders of societies – rather than the burglars – ultimately win out.
I hope the book will reach a broad audience. Based on feedback so far, it should appeal to entrepreneurs, engineers, and everyone in-between. (Sadly, I have not had any feedback from politicians yet.) This year was the second year I used it in my undergraduate teaching. The students loved it. I’ve decided to make all my (LaTeX) slides available at www.ourlongwalk.org if others would also like to prescribe the book.
If you’d like to know more about its contents, please listen to some of the podcasts I’ve recorded or reviews that’s been published. Or just go to Amazon or Goodreads and read what others have thought. Bar one or two exceptions, the responses have been overwhelmingly positive.
There are many people to thank. I’ve done so in the introduction of the book, but let me just mention one of the most pivotal by name: Michael Watson of Cambridge University Press. Michael and I had breakfast in New York in January 2020, just before the world locked down. I promised him a book then. Six months later I had written an entirely different book. I am incredibly thankful that he was able and willing to convince his team to publish Our Long Walk to an international audience.
Finally, book sales rely heavily on word-of-mouth. Please recommend Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom to your friends. Convince your librarian and bookshop owner to stock it. Unsure about what to buy dad or your sister for their birthday? You can do worse than Our Long Walk. Please also consider writing a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or social media. And while we’re at it, why not post a photo of you reading your copy of the book with the hashtag #ourlongwalk? One former student sent me a picture of him reading it on safari in Botswana!
There is method behind the marketing madness. We live in a world that is increasingly more pessimistic. Yet economic history offers many reasons to be optimistic about the future. I hope that Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom can both illuminate and inspire. The book’s final sentence suggests why:
The future belongs to those who believe in a better tomorrow.