Volume I of this work dealt with Europe and the wider world. Volume 2 is concerned chiefly with America – chiefly, but not entirely. It begins with an account of European influences on American culture and concludes by comparing the American and European experiences of modern economic growth. Between are superb treatments of three major elements of American economic history, to each of which Professor Parker has devoted a substantial part of an extraordinarily productive career. He began his study of the first (contained in Part II) – southern agricultural history – during his years at the University of North Carolina and continued it after he had moved to Yale. It was also at Chapel Hill that he formally began his work on northern agriculture (Part III and Annex A). But he had begun to assemble the resources to deal effectively with this topic many years before. The midwestern resonances of his voice are honestly come by. His understanding of the people of the region was acquired during a childhood in Ohio and associations continued in adult life. Part IV, on northern industrialization, contains the work that has been his principal concern during the past several years.

The volume embodies an exceptionally erudite, thoughtful, comprehensive account of American economic history, placed in the context of the process of modern economic growth.