Sowell takes the POV that one of the primary factor in economic and cultural advance is human capital: the knowledge and skills acquired by peoples either through their own efforts or through contact with other cultures. Cultures that are isolated by rough terrain, water or great distances are disadvantaged. Conquest can destroy human capital, as when barbarians invade and destroy both the humans and the artefacts of a higher culture but it can also bring advantages as when conquering nations impose peace on warring groups, improve transportation, bring new skills, etc.

Why do some nations rise economically and others fall--and what does the conquest of certain people have to do with it? Dr. Sowell explains that the answer lies in the spread of "human capital." As he does in his other books, Sowell tackles some popular but enduring fallacies and provokes the reader into deeper thinking. "It is both unnecessary and impossible," he states, "to determine the net advantages or disadvantages of conquest"--and Sowell holds to this rule, providing many illustrations of how empires were not only snarling rapacious hordes of monsters (a la Conrad) but also the bringers of modernity to economically isolated people:

Imperialism has often ben depicted as a process by which one country grows rich at the expense of another. While this can and does happen in particular instances, if "exploitation" theories are as widely applicable as supposed, then the dissolution of empires should lead to rising standards of living among the formerly conquered and presumably exploited peoples. Yet history repeatedly shows the opposite happening (330).

Sowell examines four groups of people: the British, Africans, Slavs, and Western Hemisphere Indians to explore this idea. The result is a fascinating book. His style is almost invisible and he is never interested in irony or a terrific turns-of-phrase, but readers will learn a great deal. If you're pressed for time, read the chapters on Britain and Africa, which stand alone as very fine set pieces.
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A classic among the works of Thomas Sowell. It is comperable and complementary to Jared Diamond's Gun's Germs and Steel but deals with more recent events in history and is, therefore, able to be more emperical. ( )