In answering a human puzzle, economic historian gets reactions
Economic historian Greg Clark has been invited to the State of the Planet Summit to talk about his views of world salvation. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis photo)
Three months ago, after 23 years of quiet industry in a particularly obscure corner of the academic vineyard — quantitative economic history — I was an academic journeyman, one of the great guild of college professors, 1 million strong.
My writings, worthy as they might be, were known only to a select group of equally anonymous scholars. Sure, my work did have impact on some people’s lives.
“Professor Clark,” once enthused an Eastern European caller, “how wonderful to finally talk to the only other person who has an opinion on the size of the medieval cow. I just wanted to let you know, you are completely wrong.” But Google “Greg Clark” and up would pop the Web site of a Hawaiian macadamia nut salesman.
Then, overnight, with the publication of my book, A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World, in early August, I was thrust into a world of equal parts notice and notoriety.
Reached No. 17 on the Amazon best-seller list
For one shining hour (before the modest initial print run sold out) it reached No. 17 on the Amazon best-seller list, just below Skinny Bitch at No. 16. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Italian translations are under way. The German and Spanish rights are in negotiation.
‘Over the 12 long years it took to develop the book, about 2,000 Davis undergraduates in my world economic history classes, most with only a modest background in economics, were exposed to early versions.’
Greg Clark
A Farewell to Alms has been featured in reviews, interviews, blogs or excerpts in the New York Times (three times), Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, New York Review of Books, New York Sun, Harvard Business Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Seattle Times, Science, Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, Wall Street Journal Online, Daily Telegraph (UK), Times (UK), Süddeutches Zeitung, Brand Eins (Germany), the Australian, Clarin (Argentina), Libertad (Spain), Japan Economic Times, Mint (India).
The book has provoked strong reactions: praised as ambitious and innovative, denounced as tendentious, derivative, or even “irritating.”
While being vilified on one side as a “social Darwinist,” I have been invited by Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earthwatch Institute at Columbia University (and friend of Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie and Bono) to address an audience of 1,500 in New York in March 2008 at the State of the Planet Summit on my views of world salvation!
Perfectly bad timing
With perfectly bad timing, just as this was happening, in July I became chair of the economics department, which has 30 professors and 1,200 majors. I also became chair of the troubled UC Davis Faculty Senate Committee on Courses: A backlog of 300 course changes awaited approval in July.
Life descended into an endless churn of e-mail, meetings, administration, teaching, travel, interviews and talks. My United Airlines frequent flyer account accumulated 75,000 miles in 2007.
What accident of fate brought me to this point of befuddlement and near exhaustion?
I did spend time and effort trying to write a book that, while scholarly, would be lively, interesting, and readable by non-specialists. Over the 12 long years it took to develop the book, about 2,000 Davis undergraduates in my world economic history classes, most with only a modest background in economics, were exposed to early versions.
Apology to former students
Farewell to Alms podcast
Chris Gondek, host of The Invisible Hand Podcast: The podcast of management and management thinking, interviews UC Davis Professor Greg Clark about his new book.
I apologize to them now for how excruciatingly bad that early material was. Their reactions — incredulity, boredom, interest, perplexity — were important in shaping the book.
The book also deals with fundamental mysteries of human history. Why was the Industrial Revolution delayed so long, 100,000 years? Why did it result in a decline in income for some societies, such as those of sub-Saharan Africa, while it heaped wealth on others? Are we culturally and even genetically different in fundamental ways from our early ancestors?
Princeton University Press, its wily and indefatigable director, Peter Dougherty, and its energetic and imaginative head of publicity, Andy Desio, played an important role. Authors write, but publishers sell.
Getting any book noticed and reviewed in the press is difficult. Amazon.com lists 239,000 books published in 2007.
Only a tiny fraction get noticed
A tiny fraction of these get any notice in the popular press, and an army of agents and publicists from major commercial publishers competes ferociously for those spots.
Peter fussed over every detail, worked every angle, exploiting a network of contacts built up over a lifetime in publishing, to get the book noticed. No event was too farfetched for Andy not to think that it was the perfect exposure for the book — including a conference at the Salk Institute on science and religious belief!
But in the end books fail or succeed for reasons largely mysterious to publishers. It is said that in no industry is the demand for the product so unpredictable.
Seemingly trivial things like book titles matter much more than you might think (how else would an obscenity-laced vegan diet book become a best-seller except through the inspiration of the title “Skinny Bitch”?).
There is even a Web site that evaluates the selling potential of book titles.
ON THE HOME PAGE: Since his book was published, UC Davis Professor Greg Clark has put 75,000 of miles on United Airlines because he has been invited to speak across the nation. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis photo illustration)
Three months of fame
My 15 minutes of (modest) fame have now stretched to three months. I know that my return to the shadows of the scholarly cloisters is mere days away.
I shall miss the attention, but I know in my heart that true virtue lies not in your ranking on Amazon, but in the quality of your research.
There are, after all, still important unsettled issues in world economic history to work on. How big was the medieval cow? (very small, I insist, whatever my Eastern European antagonist believes).